PLANET IN PERIL

Related: " Free Trade: Path to Prosperity - or Back Road to Corporatism? "

Monbiot.com Why will no one answer the obvious, massive questions about TTIP? Story here. Sound familiar? If not, read this   - "Free Trade - Path to Prosperity or Back Road to Corporatism?"

National Farmers Union A canola field in Manitoba. Larry Powell PinP photo The NFU tells  the House of Commons Agriculture and Agri-Food Committee, "CETA" would provide little or no benefit to farmers. Story here. Related:  " Free Trade: Path to Prosperity - or Back Road to Corporatism? "

Manitoba Co-Operator. Trade agreements may offer negative outcomes for Canadians. Story here. Related: " Free Trade: Path to Prosperity - or Back Road to Corporatism?"  

The Hill Times online If the pharmaceutical giant succeeds, it will have effectively found a mechanism to override the Supreme Court of Canada and hold Canadian taxpayers liable for hundreds of millions in damages in the process. The cost to the health-care system could be enormous as the two Eli Lilly patents may be the proverbial tip of the iceberg and claims from other pharmaceutical companies could soon follow. Details here. Please also read: Free Trade: Path to Prosperity - or Back Road to Corporatism? - by Larry Powell

Wikileaks A leak of documents from the Trade in Services Agreement negotiations show Australia and other negotiating parties (including Canada) would be prevented from ensuring sensitive customer data remains in the country of origin. Full story here. Please also read:  " WikiLeaked Doc Reveals Wall Street Plan for Global Financial Deregulation " Is Ottawa Bedding Down With Crooked Bankers? "Free Trade - Road to prosperity or back road to corporatism?"

EcoWatch The European Union has already banned imports of meat dipped in a bleaching solution which kills all germs and bacteria. Will  the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) allow this same practice - except this time with beef? Details here. Related: Free Trade. Path to Prosperity or Back Road to Corporatism?

by Larry Powell As globalization reaches a frenzied pace, free trade agreements  (FTAs)  between nations are coming thick and fast, too.  Now, a knowledgable source with impressive credentials is sounding the latest cautionary note about "CETA,"   the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement which  Prime Minister Harper and the European Union signed ,  in principle last year.  Howard Mann   PhD (1988): London School of Economics. Master of Laws LL.M. (1984): London School of Economics. Bachelor of Civil Law (1982): McGill University.   Senior International Law Advisor to the  IISD. Photo credit – Sue Danahy, Ottawa A Canadian expert in international law, Howard Mann, (above)  is lending an important new voice to a now-familiar chorus  of alarm about " CETA,"  in particular.    For decades, large corporations have been using provisions within existing free trade agreements to sue sovereign nations who pass certain l

Dear Editor, After reading the letter-to-the-editor from Robert Sopuck, (Conservative MP for Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette) in  The Roblin Review   back in January (Canada-Eu agreement will bring jobs to the riding) (*see below), one would think there are no "downsides" to free trade, at all!  How convenient that he and Prime Minister Harper are leaving out the parts that aren't as flattering. Free trade agreements have, for years, been chipping away at the ability of sovereign nations to make laws that protect our health and environment. Far from protecting us, such deals hand over more and more power to giant, ruthless and unelected corporations to sue nations like Canada, if our laws interfere with their own "rights" to make a profit.  As long ago as the 1990s, an American outfit called Ethyl Corp. made off with $19 million of Canadian taxpayers' money under provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Ethyl Co

Do those negotiating the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership have any interest in democracy? Here’s a test. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 11th March 2014 Nothing threatens democracy as much as corporate power. Nowhere do corporations operate with greater freedom than between nations, for here there is no competition. With the exception of the European parliament there is no transnational democracy, anywhere. All other supranational bodies – the IMF, the World Bank, the United Nations, trade organisations and the rest – work on the principle of photocopy democracy (presumed consent is transferred, copy by copy, to ever greyer and more remote institutions) or no democracy at all(1).