Ottawa – The controversial Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has been rushed through three Parliamentary readings in just two days, leaving Canada’s Senate as the only possible hope for a full and proper review of the deal and its impacts on Canadians. The Council of Canadians is now urging the Senate to require this independent review.
Bill C-79, the Bill to implement the CPTPP, passed final reading on October 15 in the House of Commons, and then went through two readings in the Senate on October 15 and 16. This rapid approval process came after the Bill was tabled in the House of Commons, where the Liberal government limited debate. The Bill is now before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and could go to third reading any day now.
The Council of Canadians and its supporters across the country are asking the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee to send the CPTPP to the Parliamentary Budget Officer for independent analysis of its full impacts for Canadians. To date, this review has never been completed.
“So far, the ratification process of the CPTPP has been reckless,” said Maude Barlow, Honorary Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, “In the past, the Senate has expressed concerns about how the government approves trade deals and what kind of analysis it does. It is time for the ‘house of sober second thought’ to ask the Parliamentary Budget Officer to complete this analysis and to demand a robust debate.”
Council of Canadians Trade campaigner Sujata Dey bemoaned how empty consultations on the TPP have been. “While many people have been distracted with the ongoing saga around renegotiating NAFTA, the CPTPP, one of the biggest trade agreements Canada has ever been a part of, is being fast-tracked. The Trudeau government pledged to consult and do things differently from the Harper government on trade agreements, but that promise appears to be hollow. The government’s own consultations show than more than 95 per cent of people oppose the CPTPP. It is clearly undemocratic to ram it through Parliament especially without knowing how it will impact people, or what the costs will be for Canadians.”
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For more information contact:
Jan Malek, Communications Dept.
The Council of Canadians
Office: (613) 233-4487, ext. 231
E-mail: jmalek@canadians.org
