At its meeting on January 19, 2020, the Council of Canadians Board passed the following motion with respect to the CUSMA
To respond to CUSMA with the following frame –
- The Council recognizes that CUSMA and other free trade deals enshrine the interests of corporations and the neo-liberal agenda in the name of trade and undermine sovereignty and democracy;
- CUSMA, as announced, features a number of important changes compared to the original NAFTA; in particular removal of “Investor-State Dispute Settlement” (ISDS in NAFTA per Chapter 11) and energy proportionality, which have been important features of the Council’s work for decades. This provides an opportunity to campaign for similar changes in other trade agreements;
- The Council further recognizes that CUSMA includes a number of negative provisions that we continue to oppose;
- The Council urges a full public debate and will contact all federal parties before Parliament reconvenes to ask them to vote in favour of setting up a special committee to review all aspects of the CUSMA negotiations including the most recent protocol addendum added by the United States Congress.
It was also agreed that the Council’s detailed analysis of CUSMA should be prepared into a toolbox to share with chapters and allies, with encouragement for chapters and regions to consider holding public forums in the coming weeks on CUSMA.
