Stuart Trew, trade campaigner with the Council of Canadians, is available for comment on the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Garry Neil, the Council’s executive director, is also available in Brussels, where the deal is expected to be signed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper tomorrow morning.
“CETA isn’t about cheese or beef,” said Trew. “It’s a bill of rights for multinational corporations, especially pharmaceutical companies that will cash in on longer patents at the expense of Canadian consumers and taxpayers.”
“CETA would permanently undermine our societies and the strength of our democracies on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Neil from Brussels, where he is working to form a trans-Atlantic alliance to defeat the deal. “It will give Canadian and European companies the power to sue governments when completely reasonable public health, resource conservation and other policies interfere with a corporation’s ‘right’ to profit.”
-30-
