[RPW]

<strong>Written By:</strong> RPW
<strong>Date:</strong> 2006-11-22 12:39:43
<a href="/article/83943748-trade-investment-and-labour-mobility-agreement">Article Link</a>

A Summary of Its Impacts by Ellen Gould, of CCPA:
"...a major step towards “deep integration” with the US..."
“Alberta and BC politicians are selling the agreement on the claim that supposedly show “billions” could be saved by eliminating so-called inter-provincial trade barriers. These claims have been repeatedly debunked by economists. Real barriers to inter-provincial trade are minimal. The claims about inter-provincial barriers are really an attack on government’s right to regulate”
<a href="http://politicsnpoetry.wordpress.com/2006/10/18/tilma-not-for-sk/">http://politicsnpoetry.wordpress.com/2006/10/18/tilma-not-for-sk/</a>

Interestingly enough, the tilma (or tilmàtli) was an article of clothing worn by the Aztecs, partly to help define the classes:
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilma_%28clothing%29">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilma_%28clothing%29</a>
How apropos! Do you suppose some wonk latched onto this word, and made the agreement title to fit the acronym?

[Jacob]

Would this agreement eliminate the confiscation of Alberta beer that is trucked to British Columbia during a BC brewery strike? I have not heard of one of those lately.

Reducing regulations is a good thing, as long as those that remain are Canadian made and not based upon US complaints.

[KWL]

What this agreement also does is make municipalities and cities irrlevent as they will not be able to pass new laws that business in either province deems a barrier. If they do they can face a barrage of litigation, of course at the taxpayers expense.

Environmental regulations also become weakened as the lowest common denominator wins out.

As an example. Say the city of Vancouver wants to enter into a contract with a supplier of fair trade organic coffee for its city staff. I don't know if the city supplies coffee for its staff but for arguments sake let's say they do. Now, if the order is over $10 thousand they can forget it. It has to go to tender in both provinces. So, decision making gets taken out of the hands of local governments. How's that for democracy?

This is a huge win for big business, a big loss to democracty and citizens.
This agreement is totally undemocratic and the citizens of both provinces have been hoodwinked. No one even knows about this deal.

I emailed every single MLA in BC to voice my displeasure in this agreement. Only two, both NDP, bothered to respond.

[RPW]

Who might they be, KWL?

---
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

[KWL]

I received a response from Chuck Puchmayr, and from Carol James' assistant.

The silence is deafening.

[PatriotPete]

i think this agreement, may violate the Canadian constitution...a provincial
government simply can't give away its constitutional jurisdictional powers to
govern and regulate --the Feds can do (and have done) that under the POGG
power and their right to sign international treaties - but not provinces.

As for municipalities & cities, is there anyone out there
besides myself...that thinks it completely outdated that 'municipalities &
cities' are still children of the provinces, having no rights and protections at
all. What a stupid feudalistic arrangement....and such a large part of the
population so 'docile and domisticated', unlike the folks in FRance who rose
up, united to defeat that draconian employment legislation earlier this year.

[Ed Deak]

Whatever independence municipalities may have had, has been wiped out at first by the FTA, then the NAFTA and the WTO and now the coming GATS will remove even garbage, water, sewer and zoning controls from them. This is written into all these criminal treaties. The vast majority of people have absolutely no idea of what is going on. Campbell also wiped out the possibility of any objection to major projects, it they are "for the public good"

This is what they call "democratic free enterprise and rules based global trade and investment regime." Used to be called fascism, but times change and we don't use such words any more, as they may hurt the feelings of "wealth creating foreign investors" .

Ed Deak.