[All] Harper's at it again

Mon Jan 28 14:37:02 EST 2013

Good petition.

But note, before writing your comment, that it says, "You are signed in as
Neil Taylor ..." and you have to click to insert your identifying info.

I wish the protest groups would take up the issue of the trade deals
urgently.  So far I've had no luck persuading them!

Eleanor
 On Jan 28, 2013 7:15 AM, "Neil E Taylor" <neiletaylor at sympatico.ca> wrote:

> ** ** **
>
> We have just 4 days to flood the Canada Trade Agreements Secretariat's
> public consultation process on a NEW secretive trade deal Harper's trying
> to sneak through -- the Trans-Pacific Partnership.****
>
> *Click through to use our talking points and form to submit your comment
> -- and then make sure all your friends and family do too.*****
>
> [image: Send your public comment now.]<http://act.sumofus.org/go/1160?t=1&akid=1250.896239.V-YLQf>
> ****
>
> ****
>
> In just four days the Government of Canada will close its environmental
> assessment into the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.
>  Surprised you haven’t heard about it? Harper knows that *if the
> assessment doesn’t find significant environmental impacts, they can just
> skip producing a draft report altogether and move to the final report,* so
> he's done everything he can to keep this bad deal out of the press.****
>
> This deal is just another in a list of predatory trade deals the Harper
> government is trying to ram through to *protect tar sands development and
> safeguard corporate profits at the expense of the rest of us.* Harper
> thinks he can sneak this deal past us, but if we flood the process with
> comments, we can show we’re paying attention.****
>
> We've made it *fast and easy to submit your comment* through our form,
> and there are even talking points on the page to get you started. We need
> as many of us as possible to write in now, before the comment period closes
> on Wednesday.****
>
> *Click here to submit an email to the Canada Trade Agreements
> Secretariat, and then make sure all your friends and family do too.*<http://act.sumofus.org/go/1160?t=2&akid=1250.896239.V-YLQf>
> ****
>
> *Right now corporate lawyers are busy drafting a treaty that Canadians
> and our own MPs can't even read! *The Harper government is hoping to be
> able to point to this public consultation as proof the process has been
> transparent -- he will argue that no one is worried about environmental
> impacts of the TPP and just move forward with no more opportunities for
> public comment.****
>
> The TPP trade deal contains at least 26 chapters that would have a
> fundamental impact on the environment, the economy, jobs, access to
> affordable medicines, and much more. *The deal will give corporations the
> right to acquire land, natural resources, and factories without government
> review, and will allow corporations to be compensated for environmental
> laws that damage profits.* ****
>
> With just four days to go before the environmental assessment ends, we
> have a key moment to show the Harper government we’re paying attention.***
> *
>
> *Can you add your comment now to the Canadian government’s environmental
> assessment on TPP? We’ve got everything you need to get started.*<http://act.sumofus.org/go/1160?t=3&akid=1250.896239.V-YLQf>
> ****
>
> Look, no one thought we could keep Harper from ratifying the secretive and
> extreme Canada-China FIPA deal. But so far we have, because nearly 20,000
> people from the SumOfUs.org community submitted comments to the
> environmental assessment. Now the TPP is coming, and in many respects, it
> could be even worse than FIPA. So let's use our power to raise the profile
> of the TPP, like we did FIPA, and stop it in its tracks by flooding the
> environmental assessment with our comments.****
>
> Thanks for all you do,****
>
> Emma, Ivan, Kaytee, Rob and the rest of us at SumOfUs.org ****
>
>  ****
>
> *************
> More Information*****
>
> *What is the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Who is participating?*
> The Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership is a multilateral free
> trade agreement that aims to further liberalize the economies of the
> Asia-Pacific region. Currently, 13 countries are party to the negotiations
> including the Canada, the United States, Mexico, Australia, **Brunei** **
> Darussalam**, **Chile**, **Malaysia**, **New Zealand**, **Peru**, **
> Singapore**, and ****Vietnam****. ****
>
> *What provisions are in the treaty?*
> Under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) "free trade" agreement,
> corporations would gain an array of privileges:****
>
>    - Rights to acquire land, natural resources, factories without
>    government review****
>    - Elimination of risks and costs of off-shoring to low wage countries *
>    ***
>    - Compensation for loss of “expected future profits” from
>    environmental laws****
>    - Right to move capital without limits****
>
> The TPP will impose a set of extreme foreign investor privileges and
> rights and their private enforcement through the notorious “investor-state”
> system. Under this regime, foreign investors can skirt domestic courts and
> laws, and sue governments directly before tribunals of three private sector
> lawyers operating under World Bank and UN rules to demand taxpayer
> compensation for any domestic law that investors believe will diminish
> their "expected future profits”.****
>
>  ****
>
> *************
> Further Reading*****
>
> Notice of Intent to Conduct an Environmental Assessment of the
> Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement<http://act.sumofus.org/go/1161?t=4&akid=1250.896239.V-YLQf>
> , *Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.*****
>
> TPP: Another Flawed, Hush Hush Trade Deal Secrecy the standard as Canada
> enters Pacific treaty talks<http://act.sumofus.org/go/1162?t=5&akid=1250.896239.V-YLQf>
> . *The Tyee*. ****
>
> ****
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