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Unifor National President Jerry Dias says full disclosure of the proposed Canada-EU trade deal negotiating text is the only way to ensure a fully informed and democratic debate on the accord.
“It’s not good enough for the Harper government to release spin-doctored briefing papers and summaries,” said Dias.
The Conservative government on Oct. 29 released a technical summary of the agreement-in-principle, originally signed on October 18 in Brussels.
The 26-page summary contains sparse, bullet-point details of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) that fails to provide important information on everything from the coverage of public services to the deregulation of Canada’s telecom sector.
Trade deals can be either good or bad, depending on the details of what is negotiated, Dias said, which is why the full CETA agreement needs to be released.
“Canadians have to see the full text to best determine if they’re getting a raw deal,” Dias said.
Unifor has expressed its general concern over the CETA, including the possible negative impact on Canadian jobs, the escalating price of pharmaceuticals, the extraordinary rights granted to private investors and the diminished capacity of local governments to institute job-creating and community—enhancing economic development policies.
Unifor is calling on the federal government to release the full text of the deal and engage in a full democratic debate and vote on the passage of the CETA. Unifor is also calling for provincial parliaments to hold individual votes on the deal.
All are encouraged to take a moment to send a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking that the full CETA text be released.
Simply go to www.tradejustice.ca and click on the Sign Now button.
