EDITORS NOTE: As you can read in the fourth article down in this column, we have much to worry about when it comes to keeping ownership of our water and wastewater in public hands because of Free Trade Agreements being negotiated left, right and centre by the Canadian Government.
This action alert has come from the Greater Victoria Water Watch Coalition and is so necessary given the fact that the AGM of the UBCM occurs in September. Please take the time to write to your elected officials as most municipalities will be represented at this AGM as noted below.
BACKGROUND (overview of Burnaby's bid for municipal exemption from CETA)
The City of Burnaby will soon be asking both the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Board (Aug 30-Sept 2, Iqaluit) and the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) annual convention (Sept 27-Oct 1, Whistler) to adopt two important resolutions.
Burnaby's will be asking the FCM and the UBCM to “request that the Canadian government negotiate a clear, permanent exemption for municipalities from CETA.”
The resolutions argue that “unfettered access to Canadian municipal procurement by European corporations may encourage privatization and reduce economic development options for local communities…”
The FCM and UBCM (and other municipal associations) agreeing to this demand would be a critical blow to CETA.
For details about Burnaby's resolutions, see the Council of Canadians campaign blog
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=4285For more info about CETA see the Trade Justice Network website
http://tradejustice.ca/en/section/2Also, check out our website
www.GreaterVictoriaWaterWatchCoalition.ca CALL or EMAIL your city council NOW! Demand that they support Burnaby's bid to exempt municipalities from CETA
Central Saanich
http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Contact.htmColwood
http://colwood.ca/siteengine/ActivePage.asp?PageID=5Esquimalt
http://www.esquimalt.ca/municipalHall/mayorCouncil/contacts.aspx Highlands
http://www.highlands.bc.ca/council_members/ Langford
http://district.langford.bc.ca/newsarticle.asp?TopicID=10Metchosin
http://www.district.metchosin.bc.ca/siteengine/activepage.aspEmail: mayorandcouncilmetchosin.ca
North Saanich
http://www.northsaanich.ca/Municipal_Hall/Mayor_and_Council/Council_Contact_Information.htm Oak Bay
http://www.oakbaybc.org/municipalhall/contact.htmlSaanich
http://www.saanich.ca/contact.html Sidney
http://www.sidney.ca/Municipal_Hall/Mayor_and_Council.htm Sooke
http://www.sooke.ca/EN/main/government/mayor_council/mayor_council.htmlVictoria
http://www.victoria.ca/cityhall/mayor_contact.shtmlView Royal
http://www.town.viewroyal.bc.ca/Email: infoviewroyal.ca
Duncan
To contact the Mayor Email: mayorduncan.ca
To contact Council Email: duncanduncan.ca
Nanaimo
mayor.councilnanaimo.ca
Parksville
via Corporate Administrator Email: lkitchenparksville.ca
Port Alberni
http://www.portalberni.ca/contact-numbers