Canada Signs "Free Trade" Agreement with EFTA

The "scare quotes" were inserted to remind readers that such agreements are typically investor rights agreements and may have little, if anything, to do with the well being of the citizenry in any of the affected countries.

[ 01 February 2008: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by N.Beltov:
The "scare quotes" were inserted to remind readers that such agreements are typically investor rights agreements and may have little, if anything, to do with the well being of the citizenry in any of the affected countries.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Martha (but not Stewart):

Are the investors not among the citizenry?

---

What citizens do you know who demand and receive guarantees they will be able to bypass our democratically-elected governments and court system and sue the pants off taxpayers for loss of future profits, if and when Canadians leaders ever decided they wanted to impose regulations, as democratically-elected governments sometimes do when running countries? And what if we ever decided to renationalise what was privatised?

Phony-majority governments in Ottawa signed these free trade deals guaranteeing very large proportions of Canadian fossil fuels and energy resources to the U.S., even if we decide later that we actually need it for our own use. Nothing else in this world is guaranteed, so why should our valuable fossil fuels and energy be guaranteed to people who don't even live here or pay a dime in green taxes for the stuff they gladly take off our collective hands for a song?

What about the rights of future democratically-elected Canadian governments to negotiate and bargain as happens occasionally with free markets? This whole idea of guaranteeing things to people is unAmerican, unCanadian, and I have never agreed to it as an ordinary, powerless Canadian citizen who curries no special favour in Ottawa with Washington-style lobbying since Mulroney. In fact, I was one of the vast majority of Canadian voters who voted against Mulroney and FTA in 1988 elections. Like it or not, we were all saddled with FTA in 1989. And then I was one of the powerless majority who voted against expanded free trade in 1993 elections and the result being NAFTA in 1994. But unlike a large percentage of Canadians since those unfair and undemocratic elections, I still bother to vote believing that democracy will arrive in Canada someday.

[ 03 February 2008: Message edited by: Fidel ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by N.Beltov:
The four European countries involved include Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Two-way trade in goods amounted to $8.7 billion in 2006, according to the Bloomberg report.

---

A specific free-trade agreement might be one-sided, as we know, but that is no reason to say that free trade with Iceland or Norway is a bad idea.

All treaties involve a decision to give up sovereignty during the existence of the Treaty.
In the case of this one,

quote:

---

1. Canada, an EFTA State or any State that has become a Party to this Agreement may withdraw from this Agreement by means of a written notification to the Depositary. The withdrawal shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month after the date on which the notification was received by the Depositary.

---

text

How much oil and gas do we have left in reserve, you ask? This article from 2006 says we have about six years worth of premium natural gas reserves left, and that using natural gas to extract oil from tar sands is like turning gold into lead. Our's is not to question why. Trust and obey, it's the only way.

http://tinyurl.com/4ebvwc

quote:

---

GATINEAU, Que. - The current slowdown in the U.S. economy makes it all the more important for Canada to negotiate a free trade deal with Europe, says Quebec Premier Jean Charest.

In an interview with Canwest News Service on the eve of a major speech in Ottawa to increase support for the proposal, Charest said free trade with the European Union is an idea whose time has come.

"It is an interesting project in the context of an American economy that is slowing down. It reminds everyone how dependent we are on this economy," he said. "So I am enthusiastic about it. I'm also an optimist. I think there are good chances this will go ahead" ...

---