[All] Draft letter to send to Municipal Reps.

[Gregory C. Michalenko]

There has been quite a bit of action on this in the Region.  The Waterloo Region Food System Round Table issued a letter about 6 weeks ago that was taken to all the municipalities.  Their main concern was that the terms of the CETA could prevent public institutions like hospitals or schools from making progressive decisions such as favouring procurement of locally produced food.

 I made a presentation on it to the North Dumphries Township Council on behalf of the Round Table.  The municipalities have taken cautiously positive stands regarding exemption from the CETA.  Kitchener was rather hesitant; Wilmot took the toughest.  I also wrote a letter for the Round Table that was taken to the three MPs.  The Labour Council has also been active at the municipal level, and one of their well seasoned activists made a very good presentation to Dumphries Council on the same evening as I did.  You can check the Round Table web site for more information about the CETA and the actions taken.

- Greg

________________________________
From: all-bounces at gren.ca [all-bounces at gren.ca] on behalf of Louisette Lanteigne [butterflybluelu at rogers.com]
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 7:20 PM
To: all at gren.ca
Subject: [All] Draft letter to send to Municipal Reps.

Hi folks

I emailed this to the City of Waterloo and Regional representatives regarding CETA in the letter below. Feel free to cut and paste or circulate to others to raise attention to the need to protect municipalities from CETA. In the attachment is the Council of Canadian's report as noted in the email. The proposed draft resolution as noted in the email was taken directly from the Council of Canadians website at the following link: http://canadians.org/action/2011/CETA-resolution.html

Perhaps if GREN wishes, we can send a formal letter from our group in support of the proposed resolution.

Lulu


Dear City and Regional Council Members.

Recently the Council of Canadians has just released a public report called The CETA Deception: How  the Harper Government's public relations campaign misrepresents the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.  It clearly exposes the Harper Government's misleading and in some instances, outright false information. The report is in the attachments for your reference.

In light of the numerous concerns found in this report, I would like to see the city of Waterloo and/or Regional Council approve of the following resolution in order to protect the long term interests of our local municipalities.

DRAFT CETA RESOLUTION
WHEREAS the Canadian government is close to concluding negotiations with the European Union (EU) on a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), with participation from provinces and territories; and
WHEREAS (the Municipality) recognizes the importance of trade to local, provincial/territorial and national economies but also the impact that trade agreements can have on the powers of local governments; and
WHEREAS in the CETA, Canada has exchanged an initial procurement offer with the EU (listing sub-federal entities that will be bound by the rules of the procurement chapter) that may include (the Municipality) and that would explicitly tie the(the Municipality) to the terms and conditions of an international trade agreement; and
WHEREAS the EU is insisting on full access to procurement by municipalities, school boards, universities, hospitals, utilities and other provincial agencies, which could significantly reduce the freedom of these bodies to use public spending as a tool for economic development, environmental protection and support for local farmers and small businesses; and
WHEREAS procurement and investment rules in the CETA applied to transit, water, electricity and other locally delivered services may encourage and lock in privatization, and make it prohibitively expensive to apply new regulations to, re-municipalize services or create new services; and
WHEREAS (the Municipality) already has an open and fair procurement policy, and it is not the international norm for municipal governments to be covered by procurement agreements such as the one proposed in the CETA; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Council requests:

  *   that (the Province/Territory) issue a clear, permanent exemption for (the Municipality) from the Canada-EU CETA, and that it otherwise protect the powers of municipalities, hospitals, school boards, utilities, universities and other sub-federal agencies to use public procurement as one of many tools to create local jobs, protect the environment, and support local development; and that
  *   the (Province/Territory) disclose to municipalities and the public its initial procurement, services and investment offers to the EU, explain the impacts CETA would have on municipal governance, and give M.U.S.H sector entities the freedom to decide whether or not they will be bound by CETA provisions; and that
  *   this resolution be sent to the provincial and federal government ministers responsible for the CETA negotiations, the (Provincial/Territorial) Municipal Association, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the(Provincial/Territorial) Hospital Association, the (Provincial/Territorial) University Association and the(Provincial/Territorial) School Board Association and any other relevant bodies for consideration and circulation.

Thank you kindly for your time.

Louisette Lanteigne
700 Star Flower Ave.
Waterloo ON.
N2V 2L2

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