http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/December2008/30/c3704.html
Attention News Editors:
15 Years of Damage is Enough: NAFTA Must Be Renegotiated
MONTREAL, OTTAWA, WASHINGTON AND MEXICO CITY, Dec. 30 /CNW Telbec/ -
January 1, 2009 marks the 15th anniversary of the implementation of the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which integrates the economies of
Canada and Mexico with that of the United States. For civil society networks
in the three North American signatory countries, this anniversary is no cause
for celebration.
In a Joint Declaration entitled "NAFTA must be renegotiated" (available
at
www.commonfrontiers.ca), the networks propose that NAFTA re-negotiation
should centre on 10 crucial areas: agriculture, energy, foreign investment,
financial services, the role of the state and public services, employment and
labour rights, migration, environment, intellectual property rights, and the
dispute settlement mechanism.
We concur with U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's statement that "NAFTA
and its potential were oversold to the American people". We would add that
NAFTA was oversold to Canadians and Mexicans. We believe that NAFTA is a
flawed deal that governments imposed under pressure from large corporations,
and that re-negotiation should ensure that any future agreement benefits
workers in the three countries.
In calling for a re-negotiation of NAFTA, our organizations are opting
for a new trade model in which our governments govern for the people instead
of having large corporations call the shots. NAFTA's most damaging elements
must be eliminated - in particular the investor-state provisions found in
Chapter 11, and the Chapter 6 proportionality clause that currently forces
Canada to send two-thirds of its oil to the United States.
The all-powerful corporations
Under NAFTA, only the CEOs of large companies have privileged access to
key government officials, while all other sectors of society, including
elected members of Parliament and Congress, are excluded.
This trend became especially obvious in March 2005 when the three
countries launched the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America
(SPP, or what quickly became known as NAFTA-Plus). One year later the
North-American Competitiveness Council (NACC), made up exclusively of CEOs
from North America's largest companies, was created. At that time, government
ministers responsible for the SPP said to CEOs : "Tell us what we need to do
and we'll make it happen."
Key to any NAFTA re-negotiation will be ensuring that every sector of
society can contribute to the debate about North America's future and that
they will be listened to by our governments.
A charter that protects investors' rights - NAFTA Chapter 11
For the first time ever, under NAFTA, foreign investors got the right to
challenge policies or legislation of national governments by claiming that
these policies would affect their ability to make profit.
NAFTA's Chapter 11 Investor/State provisions can be triggered in a number
of ways. Foreign investors can claim they were not given equal treatment. They
can challenge government measures to require the use of local goods or
measures that protect a population's health or the environment. And the
private company can sue the government for damages. Such cases have resulted
in "chilling" governments' efforts for the public good or for national or
regional development strategies.
Canada, an energy colony of the United States
Another aspect of NAFTA that needs to be re-examined, particularly in
this period of unstable oil prices, is the "proportionality" clause found in
NAFTA's Chapter 6. This clause prevents the Canadian people from exerting
their sovereignty over their own energy resources by guaranteeing the United
States a greater proportion of Canada's oil production than Canada gets
itself. After seeing this clause during the original NAFTA negotiations,
Mexico demanded - and was given - an exemption. Far from being an "energy
superpower," as Prime Minister Stephen Harper claims, Canada is actually an
energy colony, putting the voracious appetite of the U.S. for non-renewable
hydrocarbons ahead of Canada's own needs.
The economic crisis requires that a new development model be put in place
Deregulation, an objective once revered by NAFTA proponents, has proven
to be an abject failure. In fact, it is one of the principal causes of the
current economic crisis, as admitted by none other than the former president
of the Federal Reserve of the United States, Alan Greenspan. We need now to
restore the role of the state as protector of the common good, a role that has
been greatly undermined in the last two decades.
A new trade model between the three North American countries must promote
economic relations based on human rights, social justice and national
sovereignty, while focusing on sustainable development. We demand that the
executive branches of our respective governments listen to their people and to
the duly elected representatives in their legislatures. This is the only way
to ensure that another world is possible - a world where peoples' rights take
precedence over corporate profits.
This press release is a joint initiative of four multi-sectoral networks
in North America, namely the Québec Network on Continental Integration (RQIC),
Common Frontiers-Canada, the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade (RMALC), the
Alliance for Responsible Trade (ART-US) - and the Polaris Institute.
For further information: Québec Network on Continental Integration
(RQIC): Pierre-Yves Serinet, (514) 276-1075,
[email protected]; Common
Frontiers-Canada: Rick Arnold, (905) 352-2430,
[email protected]
