Harper hostile to reopening Labour and Environmemtal side agreements in NAFTA
The Cons want to be first out of the gate to promote their view of an international climate change agreement with Obama...gee wonder why?
But what caught my attention is this quote from Dorris....
quote:
[b]Day and Cannon also downplayed Obama's talk of reopening the North American Free Trade Agreement's side-deals on labour and the environment, saying NAFTA is too "mutually beneficial.[/b]
[url=http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/531614]Article[/url]
Jim (the smoothie) Prentice has taken on the environment file, of course, and that makes their environmental policy innovations dangerous as hell. This is not Bulldog Baird.
Right out of the starting gate, Prentice is preaching the indivisible nature of economy and environment, that they cannot be dealt with separately. Which is true, of course, but they are not pairing them for proper analysis of the situation leading to reduction of carbon emissions.
Consider the appeal of this idea for the newly unemployed of both Ontario and Ohio. And the weighting given to the "employment" side of that coin.
[ 06 November 2008: Message edited by: George Victor ]
Can we expand the topic by changing the thread title a bit? There is only one small portion in the article that says anything about this while the article says much more that could be discussed. Something along the lines of harper's plans for dealing with an Obama admin or something?
Okay, I am just going to expand it anyway.
quote:
The Fraser Institute: Harper Government Must Move Quickly to Establish a Relationship With a Barack Obama Administration...For the past several years, Canada and the U.S. have been moving to integrate markets in the two countries, initially under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and more recently through the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). The ability for transactions to occur freely across the border has been a key engine of Canadian growth in the past two decades. In 2007, Canada's trade with the United States amounted to 67 per cent of its overall trade, or 40 per cent of GDP. But these gains could disappear if the new U.S. administration embraces more protectionist policies.
"Given Obama's expressed hesitation for free trade agreements and his promises to seek more labour and environmental conditions in agreements such as NAFTA, Canada will likely face more than security demands from the new administration in bilateral negotiations on deepening trade," Moens said."But Obama is a highly intelligent person, and a master politician. If Harper can persuade him that the United States will benefit from good relations with Canada, he may adjust his policies."
The other key issue facing Canada is the likelihood of Obama bringing forward a carbon cap-and-trade system. Canada is particularly sensitive to arbitrary caps on carbon set in Washington which would most likely lead to American industry demanding import tariffs or levies on Canadian energy products and manufactured goods. Because carbon policies lead to trade distortions, Canada can only minimize its losses if it joins an American cap and trade system. Any difference between the two markets on these regulations will likely hurt the Canadian export sector.
Um, wonder if Prentice has contacted his friend from the PC days EMay yet?[url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/The-Fraser-Institute-Harper-Govern... he suggests the Prime Minister concentrate on three main issues: [/url]
Sounds like we could end up paying them even [i]more[/i] money to take massive amounts of oil and gas and hydro-electric power off our hands. Just so long as we don't freeze in the dark sometime down the road, our stoogeocrats must know what they're doing regardless of the outward appearance of it, which has looked pretty rotten since 1994.
[url=http://www.opednews.com/articles/Majority-Oppose-Chapter-11-by-Dana-Gabr... Oppose Chapter 11 of NAFTA[/url] February 2009
A recent binational poll commissioned by the Council of Canadians, found that the majority of Americans and Canadians oppose provisions found in Chapter 11 of NAFTA. The poll found that 70% believe that energy corporations should not be allowed to sue governments for changes to policy that protect the environment and promote the public interest
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[url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090807/pl_nm/us_nafta_protecionism]NAFTA leaders urged to rein in "buy local" impulses[/url]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North American business groups urged leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada on Friday to rein in "buy local" provisions they called a threat to free trade and economic growth. . .Other recommendations included:
* Full implementation of a long-delayed U.S. commitment to allow Mexican trucks to operate in the United States.
* Rejection of a "carbon tax" on imports from countries judged not to be doing enough to fight global warming.
* Stronger regulatory cooperation among the three countries, and rigorous protection of intellectual property rights essential to innovation and economic growth.
NAFTA is all about enforcing exclusive private property rights and little to do with free trade or free labour markets. The Yanks could arbitrarily tell us to stick any future carbon taxes where the sun doesnt shine while our corrupt stooges navel gaze on their self-imposed political impotence
[url=http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14745]Cracks Emerging in NAFTA[/url]
Corporations miffed by free trade - demand protectionist policies. Workers and unions should expect to be screwed, glued, and tattoo'd as usual, says Shamus Cooke