Friday, 2 April 2010

HARPER IS SELLING US OUT: THE "'BUY AMERICAN" SELLOUT


CANADIANS. THINGS ARE GETTING VERY SERIOUS.
HARPER IS NOT JUST CRAWLING ALONG SELLING US OUT,
HE IS IN FULL SPEED AHEAD MODE
AND WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME.

Spending public money locally is not the problem

~ the WTO Government Procurement Agreement is

Profiting from municipal frustration, and exaggerating the impact of “Buy American” policies on Canadian companies, the Harper government and provinces signed a multi-pronged government procurement agreement with the United States on February 16 that will see provincial and local spending powers permanently limited under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

In return for fleeting access to a sliver of the original $280 billion worth of U.S. stimulus money for infrastructure, Canada’s provinces are to be included in the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) ~ a plurilateral contract signed by only 40 countries that forbids listed national and subnational governments and agencies from favouring domestic content or considering other local benefits when spending public money.

This is a big deal.

Canada’s provinces have been reluctant to sign onto the GPA precisely because there was and is still no way to guarantee reciprocal access to the U.S. procurement market.

While some areas, including urban transit and energy-related projects are currently excluded, the provinces are on a slippery slope as this agreement goes forward. That’s because Canada has committed to continuing talks toward an even bigger, permanent procurement agreement with the United States, potentially under NAFTA.

Also, the provinces and cities are under intense pressure from the European Union, through ongoing free trade negotiations, to open up even more provincial and municipal spending on goods, services and construction to European companies.

European service providers, for example, see Canada’s public services, which are delivered provincially and municipally, as a potential money maker through privatization. The GPA offers trade tools to help make that happen.

While Prime Minister Harper refuses to renegotiate NAFTA to improve labour and environmental protections, he has essentially done what amounts to the same thing as reworking the deal by binding municipalities and provinces to trade rules curbing their powers over local economies.

And he did it while Parliament was prorogued,
with no plans
to let our elected politicians
study the deal to see if it’s worth it.

This underhanded approach is exactly the same used to set up the Federal Reserve that has virtually broken the American people financially. Bad politician, psychopaths out to harm entire populations, usually do so when everyone else is away or concentrating on another situation. You can good money that Harper planned it this way, in fact that could have been why the second prorogue at all! He obeys his Rothschild masters well and taken their "guidance".

Local procurement is not the problem.

In fact, it is one of the last vestiges

of public control over how

local communities develop and grow,

and an important tool

in growing their economies.

We cannot let this new agreement stand without a fight.

A statement on public procurement

We believe that governments have a right and a duty to use public procurement as a tool for economic development, environmental protection and job creation. Therefore, we oppose the expansion of “free trade” deals to encompass more public procurement. Read more »

Resources

ACTION ALERT

MEDIA

MULTIMEDIA

BLOGS

  • Buy American, Trade Blog by Stuart Trew, Trade Campaigner at the Council of Canadians
  • Trade and Buy American, Campaign Blog by Brent Patterson, Director of Campaigns and Communications at the Council of Canadians

REPORTS/PRESENTATIONS/LETTERS/WEBSITES

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