Harper Is Selling Another Piece of Canada to the United States
By signing the agreement on government procurement, the Harper government is selling another piece of our country to the Americans. The provincial and municipal public markets were not included in NAFTA or the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement.
The Harper government, that has already betrayed Canada in the case of the Softwood Lumber Agreement, is doing it again and delivering provincial and municipal markets to the Americans for a vague promise of reciprocity.
The reasons to oppose the agreement are several.
First of all is the Americans’ credibility. The Americans don’t ratify international agreements or, when they do, they don’t respect them and engage in long judicial proceedings that finish by wearing out the opponent. The softwood lumber dispute is only an example, but one can also remember the fisheries, wheat and durum wheat disputes.
Economically, Canada will be a loser. Lower wages and less restrictive American work and environmental rules and regulations will create pressure for lowering wages and rules and regulations in Canada. American companies could consider the Canadians rules as non-tariff barriers and engage in judicial proceedings. Unemployment will increase as many Canadian companies go bankrupt because of American competition. The result will be a lower standard of living and a deteriorated environment in Canada. Of course, some Canadian companies will still make profits, but on the whole, Canadians will lose.
In addition, considerable amounts of money will be taken out and used in the United States instead of serving the common good in Canada.
In Eastern Ontario the first cities to feel the impact will be small border cities such as Brockville, Cornwall and Kingston.
To have a fair agreement for Canadians, Americans must promise to respect Canadians rules and regulations. Furthermore, the United States must guarantee Canadian companies access to similar American public markets, including municipalities, without the continual threat of a future Buy American Act.
Before ratifying the agreement, the Harper government must respect the democratic process and obtain approval from Parliament.
Lastly, if our MP, Guy Lauzon, tells you that the agreement will create jobs in Canada, don’t believe him because he represents the interests of his party and not ours.
Corneliu Kirjan – Cornwall
(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of the Cornwall Free News, their staff, or sponsors.)
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This is a sellout. Let’s hope that the provinces don’t go along with it. It must be passed by Parliament and by each of the provinces. The so-called deal gives access of US firms to Canadian municpal spending FOREVER. We get access to 37 states for the next few days when the stimulus spending runs out. Harper sold out to the US on the softwood lumber deal which Canada (The Liberals) was winning in court. Even after signing the deal, the US did not respect it. They have all kinds of loopholes to get around deals they make with other countries. Harper must think we are all fools. If you believe Harper, then you are a fool. Or perhaps you can wisen up and see that Harper is the fool.
I was about to say. This is Peter Van Loon that worked this out. And the bid is on for American jobs only while their stimulus funding is in play, which ends some time mid February. In the meantime, they get free reign to bid on whatever jobs they want to in Canada.
This is a complete sell-out and I agree 100% with Corneliu and also Someone who is not a fool.
I don’t get why people seem to think Harper was some hero in the whole softwood lumber deal. We got screwed. Even the WTO said we got screwed. But to get back a few billion, he actually sold out Canada then and signed that the USA was not in the wrong to get that money. And as someone who is not a fool said, even after signing, the deal wasn’t respected, and now we have the US levying tariffs again on us.
As for ratifying this agreement, we all see how Harper is stacking the Senate. Lets just imagine for one second what he can possibly accomplish if he gets his stacked senate to push through whatever deals. Very scary to think about.
Guy Lauzon is a sellout as well. He sold out his constituents to tow the party line (ie: such as voting YES to the HST.) No doubt there is great damage to be done if he gets in on this as well. Afterall, we all saw how many jobs he brought to Cornwallians with his new call center, to be staffed by people in Ottawa, whom are already in the government.
I thought the softwood issue was settled in 2006 (there is a 7 year clause on it) after decades of fighting. It was a Liberal turned Conservative then that worked on the deal, of which Canada got 4 billion dollars from duties.
These lowering wages you talk about are already happining because our own levels of government is taking away our living wages to support who knows what.
Maybe we could sell Guy Lauzon clones to the Republican Party. Imagine what they could do with life-size laser holograms controlled by Sarah Palin!
Well, you’re correct. Have you gone to google and researched, ‘North American Union’?
nice paper
keep it up