PUBLIC WATER FOR SALE

Between April 11-15, European Union and Canadian trade negotiators will be in Ottawa for a secretive seventh round of free trade talks on a proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). As always, provincial and territorial negotiators will be there because of how deeply CETA will affect local policies and public services.

It was supposed to be a critical moment in the CETA talks, where Canada and the EU would exchange provincial and territorial offers related to services (including public services), government procurement (how our local governments spend public money) and how investment is regulated. But we heard some very good news today that this step has been postponed due to the federal election!

As Maude Barlow said in a media release last week, "Common sense tells us you shouldn't be allowed to make major policy decisions during an election that would bind future governments." The provinces agreed, and the exchange of offers has been put off until after a new federal government is formed.

We can't let down our guard. This is exactly the time for us to renew our demands to see the provincial and territorial offers before they are sent to the EU!

Once the Canadian offers are made, once these public policies are put on the negotiating table, it will be difficult to impossible to take them back. You would think the provinces and territories would be consulting publicly about what their offers should look like. But no, there is nothing but silence from our elected officials.

From leaked copies of the CETA text, and discussions with some Canadian trade negotiators, we know the types of policies being offered by the provinces and territories could include:

· Public drinking water and sanitation: The EU wants Canada to commit to trade rules that would encourage the privatization of Canada's public water systems. It's up to the provinces and territories how far they go. For more on why this would be a terrible move for the provinces and territories to make, see our report: "Public Water for Sale."

· Public health care: While Canada and the EU say they would like to exempt public health care from CETA, some provinces may accidentally or willfully commit health services in their offers to the EU. Health insurance will almost certainly be part of their offers, which will make Canada's public health insurance system vulnerable to trade and investment challenges attempting to undermine public health care.

· Public transit and energy: European services multinationals, which have successfully dismantled publicly delivered transit and energy systems across the EU, now want to privatize Canada's remaining public systems. EU negotiators will be looking for commitments in these areas.

· Sustainable, ethical and local purchasing strategies: The EU wants the provinces and territories to ban municipal governments, school boards, Crown corporations and most other public agencies from favouring locally sourced products and services when spending public money. They think that only the bottom line should count even though the environmental and job-creating benefits may be much higher from spending money close to home.

These aren't trade policies. They are domestic public policies that should be developed locally in an open, democratic way. It should not be up to the provincial and territorial governments to trade these policies away without consulting publicly or even discussing it in the legislature.

TAKE ACTION!

Demand that your province or territory make its offers public and allow for debate before they are put on the CETA bargaining table!

Send a letter at http://canadians.org/action/2011/democracy-CETA.html.

For more information about CETA, go to www.canadians.org/CETA.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The next item on our Frontpage supplies additional details for your information.