Trade deals should benefit everyone
Re Why progressives oppose Canada-EU trade deal, Opinion Sept. 22 Why do Canada and the U.S. support international trade agreements that may negatively affect their domestic legislative independence? Neither government is, in the current environment, right wing, as evidenced by the vigour with which they, especially the U.S., are opposed publicly by business and public commentators on the right wing.
You either believe those governments are effectively controlled by the multinationals that “rule” the world, which requires that you have no confidence in the public servants who actually read these agreements and advise their respective governments or you believe those governments, which are in fact supported on trade matters by the opposition parties, have a better grasp of the economic climate than the progressives outside of government.
The real explanation for this phenomenon is that governments, reasonably, believe that their only path to retaining power is an expanding and thriving economy in which most people feel secure about their economic prospects; and that both economic theory and economic history demonstrate that, generally speaking, international trade enhances economic performance.
The really troubling circumstance is that there is no longer any real international advocacy for multilateral as opposed to regional free trade pacts. Rather than oppose these inevitable international agreements, it seems that the best strategy for progressives is to do everything possible to help working people organize for the best possible working conditions. Romain Pitt, Toronto It’s not like we don’t know how trade deals work. And NAFTA is small potatoes compared to CETA and TPP.
While we sit complacently, the Liberals have dispatched Chrystia Freeland to save CETA from wavering European politicians faced with voters actively taking to the streets in displeasure about more compromises on jobs, services, taxes and the environment, all in the name of further enriching the 1 per cent.
Under the guise of global trade, have we not lost enough well-paying permanent jobs and seen a decline in important services such as education and health to know we are getting taken to the cleaners again? Are the unimaginable billions already hidden in tax havens not sufficient for the proponents of one-sided trade deals?
Shame on the Liberals who promised change. Shame on Chrystia Freeland, author of Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super Rich, and shame on Canadians for not speaking up loud enough to be heard. Nancy Stevens, Toronto