On April 1, Nobel winning economist Joseph Stiglitzy spoke at Ottawa University on a panel called Making Sense of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.   During his remarks he said the Trans-Pacific Partnership may well be the worst trade agreement ever negotiated.  He has recommended that Canada use its influence to begin a renegotiation of TPP to make it an agreement that advances the interests of Canadian citizens and not just the large corporations.  Here is a full recording of the panel.

Stiglitz also described Freeland as “old friend” and said he has explained some of the pitfalls of the TPP to her, among them its potential to reduce workers’ rights.  However, the Liberals seem to be ignoring these warnings about how dangerous the TPP, and keep championing it. 

We have been acting.  Thousands have responded to Liberal`s request for public input about the TPP, as Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland reported in her Open Letter to Canadians on the Trans-Pacific Partnership from the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of International Trade.  Within Parliament, the Opposition parties have been challenging the liberals and speaking out about the TPP.  Trade critic Tracey Ramsey believes there is a way to reopen the deal that preserves jobs and avoids higher drug prices.

The tough thing is that the Liberals keep talking about `hearing from Canadians` and consultation but the input what they are doing with the information they are getting from all of us, including Stiglitz, is opaque  Citizen Action Monitor has asked Minister Freeland to explain is what is happening to all the public input about the TPP.  The Liberal government has been launching consultation after consultation, but there has to be some accountability about the feedback they receive from the citizenery.  Send a similar letter to your MP demanding more information about how your input to the TPP process is being quantified and used.