TPP agreement bad for us in many ways

Re: “Trans-Pacific agreement bad for our health,” column, May 4.

Dr. Trevor Hancock speaks of the detriments of the Trans-Pacific Partnership to our health. It’s a wake-up call for citizens to pay attention, weed the bafflegab out of the facts and see how corporations manipulate governments.

The impact on health is scary enough, but an investigation of the negative impact of the TPP in other areas cannot be dismissed. It is set up to benefit the world’s rich and powerful, and the rest of us will be tossed in the wind if it goes through. This trade deal is an agreement among Canada, the U.S., Mexico and nine other countries, which might make it superficially sound good. However, several experts in public policy, impartial economists, etc., can explain why it is not. For example, economist Joseph Stiglitz says: “The argument was always that the winners could compensate the losers. But they never do. And that becomes particularly relevant when we have a society with as much inequality as we have today.”

One of the most frightening elements is the investor-state dispute settlement. Under this policy, foreign investors could sue governments for any action that might affect their future profits. That would overrule our laws concerning climate policy and the rights of indigenous people. And it will cost us a penalty for our losses.

The Council of Canadians is a reliable source of information. B.C.’s Dogwood Initiative also is a public-interest group that examines more local issues.

G.M. Jackson Victoria