Green Party opposes anti-democratic elements of Canada Europe Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement

This morning in Brussels, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada and President of the European Commission, Jose Manual Barroso announced conclusion of the agreement, in principle, of the Canada-EU CETA.

“While critical details of this Agreement are still being kept from the public, I am profoundly concerned with some of the core measures that have already been announced”, said Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands and Leader of the Green Party of Canada.

This agreement will undermine Canadian dairy farmers and producers, restrict local decision-making by municipal governments on procurement, and drive up prescription drug prices for all Canadians in order to protect the interests of massive European pharmaceutical corporations.

Further, like the Canada-China FIPA, a central element of the CETA consists of an anti-democratic Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism, allowing foreign corporations to sue Canada and challenge democratically-passed Canadian laws that impede their profits.

“Prior to this Agreement, Europe has had the good sense to avoid these dangerous investor-state agreements, which are rapidly falling out of favour internationally”, said Elizabeth May, “but Prime Minister Harper seems bound and determined to tie the hands of future Canadian governments – national, provincial, and municipal. The devil can’t be in the details, because we’ve already now seen it in the summary”.