By John Twigg
The federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (we'll get used to writing that) surprised and disappointed more than a few people this morning (Jan. 25) when it announced they'd be signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement when the parties meet on Feb. 4 in New Zealand.
Though International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland insisted that “signing does not equal ratifying” the mere idea that Canada was somehow moving forward on the contentious, wide-ranging and heretofore largely secret deal was alarming to many observers.
New Democratic Party leader Tom Mulcair raised the issue in Question Period, claiming the TPP will kill manufacturing jobs but Trudeau - speaking for the government on the issue - said they are serious about consulting Canadians on the deal, which was negotiated in recent years largely in secret by the Harper Conservatives who interestingly avoided signing it prior to the federal election.
Trudeau's position seems to reflect two themes: the new Liberal government IS serious about doing more consultations with the public prior to such decisions, which is also visible regarding First Nations, pipelines and Health funding of drug purchases and other issues, but on the other hand it also is sensitive to the pro-business elements in the cabal that Trudeau assembled to get himself elected.
What's all the fuss about? Well that's difficult to say because so few details are yet in the public domain and for example last year when I interviewed the usually well-informed David Suzuki on my cable TV talk show in Campbell River he didn't even know what TPP stood for let alone what it entailed!
But one thing I do know is that it will make it easier - much easier - for foreign investors to sue provincial and local governments and conceivably sue other parties too such as say marketing boards or manufacturers if those investor/traders feel they are being discriminated against, which means small players such as say a regional district could be bullied into compliance on such things as say environmental standards or land-use zonings if the investor chooses to go into battle with a bevy of high-priced lawyers, or maybe that a collective exporter such as say Canpotex or the former Wheat Board could be declared an unfair trade tactic.
While such large and complex treaties almost always have both benefits and drawbacks, that potential loss of sovereignty for Canadians could easily outweigh the moot benefits to say Canadian-based exporters.
Mulcair told Trudeau that fighting inequality must become a government priority, intimating that the TPP will favour mainly corporations and wealthy investors, but Trudeau noted his government's forthcoming budget will contain a signficant child tax benefit for families. (see footnote re inequities)
Maybe so, but since the TPP was drafted the exchange rate of the Canadian dollar has dropped significantly against the U.S. dollar and that could change a lot of perspectives too, at least to the benefit of exporters while on the other hand accelerating foreigners' appetites for snapping up Canadian real estate at the drawback to local buyers.
Business in Vancouver has reported that some high-tech companies are concerned the TPP heavily favours the U.S. in intellectual property, and that the North American Free Trade Agreement would be inadequate to compensate for the absence of the TPP.
The good news, or at least some relief from bad news, is that Canadians will have up to two years to decide whether or not to ratify the agreement after signing onto the TPP.
“It is clear that many feel the TPP presents significant opportunities, while others have concerns,” Freeland said in a news release, noting she has participated in some 70 roundtables on it with provinces, labour leaders, business representatives and academics since last fall.
Below is a link to an excellent analysis of the TPP by Murray Dobbin published on Jan. 22 by The Tyee and below that is my response to it and a response to my response and my response to that, then a link to another useful background piece on TPP.
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/01/22/TPP-Trudeau-Keynesian/
On TPP, Trudeau Must Think Like a Keynesian
Canadian people need a new deal, not
transnational corporations.
Place your bets. Will Justin Trudeau and his economic advisors
choose a neo-Keynesian approach to the growing economic disaster
facing the country or will it stick to the neo-liberal ideology that
has been the stock response of Liberal and Conservative governments
for the past 30 years? ....JT's reply to Dobbin piece
Well that's interesting; I haven't been a great fan of some of Dobbin's screeds but this one on TPP I agree with and support in virtual totality (subject only to a re-read to find a few quibbles if I or anyone wanted to). Well done and thank you Tyee - maybe there IS hope for journalism post PostMedia ; )
IMO the worst feature of TPP (at least based on what little has been revealed so far) is that large wealthy corporations with tax-deductible expenses for lawyers could litigate local governments and even provinces into submission in order to get say the same right to design mine tailing containment ponds to the same shoddy standards that Mount Polley was able to get, or say to get the same shoddy standards for fracking in B.C. that now pertain in say Alberta or Pennsylvania.
In a world that is increasingly fractious, litigious and corrupt we in Canada and B.C. should work hard to preserve our rights to self-determination but TPP as weakly negotiated by Harper appears to be a gross sell-out to the greed of global big money investors.
So let's start telling Justin Trudeau en masse to postpone and repair the TPP or even just cancel altogether. A race to the bottom is not "sunny ways".
response by Brent
JTwigg's response to Brent
Thanks Brent - useful feedback to useful info.
Though I'm not familiar with such details in trade and TPP I am all too familiar with the oligopoly in the world that is increasingly dominant in trade and commerce and politics and environment and economy and employment and media and on and on.
We believe we live in democracies but so often they are dysfunctional - eg TPP negotiations!! - that it's now a delusion.
Maybe it's not too late to rescue our self-determination but the hour certainly is getting late.
Further TPP background from Huffington Post:
The TPP hands control over trade to the world's wealthiest
(via The Huffington Post)
If there is someone who knows about
plutocrats, it is Chrystia Freeland, Canada's international trade
minister responsible for deciding what to do about the TPP, the foremost
international agreement among plutocrats. She has been to the parties
and observed the richest one per cent in their natural setting, with
their superstar interior designers, cooks and fashion designers.Footnote re fighting inequities, and honesty
By John Twigg
While I'm not personally upset if and when someone earns a lot of money, especially if and when they do so honestly and through hard work and brain power, I am still increasingly concerned by the growing inequities in the world between rich and poor.
When federal NDP leader Tom Mulcair in Question Period today (Jan. 25) raised the supposed need to fight inequalities, it sounded (on TV) a bit like he was whining for a stronger "tax-the-rich" approach, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded with an equally lame claim that his forthcoming budget will be helpful to families (i.e. all families, not only low-income ones).
So what we see there is two guys arguing over how to slice a given pie when really the political and economic challenge should be to grow the pie so everyone can have bigger slices.
That said, one can't help but be disturbed by some data on wealth disparity in the world that was cited recently by CKNW talk show host Jon McComb in which the wealth of the 62 richest people in the world is now about equal to the wealth of the poorest half of the world's population or about 3.5 billion people.
Yes, that's not a typo: 62 = 3.5 billion! And it's getting rapidly worse because a few years ago it was 88 people.
That's a stark proof of how the rich are getting richer, and why we have every right to be skeptical when we see some of those rich folks gathering every year in Davos for the World Economic Forum and wonder why their high-sounding pronouncements such as supporting things like the TPP never seem to make much positive difference in real-world affairs for the vast majority of people.
Yes it was nice to see them embrace Canada's new Prime Minister and expound positive hopes for social, economic and environmental progress but really what was done to really improve the human condition? Nothing!!
Clearly all the governments in the world need to clamp down on organized crime and underground industries and the use of tax havens for criminal tax avoidances - to which Canada has been rather slow and weak, such as from recent revelations that even some Senators have been improperly ducking their taxes and billing for dubious or even fraudulent expenses. And don't forget the many crooked lawyers and investments advisers!
Yes most lawyers, stock brokers, accountants and business moguls are honest but too few of them blow whistles on their crooked colleagues and/or their political minions.
Though Canada is not the worst place in the world for such things, nor is it the best, and few if any people are campaigning to clean it up.
And ending on a religious note, that's why the probably only hope is for Jesus Yeshua to return as King of Kings and rule the world with a rod of iron, probably starting around the year 2030.
A religious scholar recently told me that even in the Millennium there will still be people lying and cheating but at the end of that period there will be the "Great White Throne Judgement" to determine which people will earn immortal souls, which ones will be mercifully snuffed quickly in a Lake of Fire (think of the Terminator movie) and which few (mainly fallen angels) will get eternal torment.
So yes in other words it does matter whether we choose to live with honesty and integrity, or otherwise.
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