Liberals Get NDP Support To Fast-Track NAFTA Bill...

9 posts / 0 new

Tue, 2020-02-18 20:34

NDPP

Liberals Get NDP Support To Fast-Track NAFTA BIll Through Committee

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/liberals-get-ndp-support-to-fast-track-n...

"The minority Liberal government has found a dance partner to see that the implementation bill for the renogiated NAFTA gets expedited through the House of Commons: The NDP.

'The inescapable and somewhat astonishing conclusion today is that the NDP has a greater commitment to certainty in the Canadian economy, the NDP has a better understanding of the value of trade with the United States than the Conservative Party does,' Chrystia Freeland said.

This backing - and a commitment to support passing the deal when it comes up for its final vote in the House - is the result of a deal that the NDP's export promotion and international trade critic Daniel Blaikie says, is in the works with the Liberals.

'This is the work the NDP was sent here to do..."

Hill & Knowlton Socialism in action. NDP=No Difference Party.

Tue, 2020-02-18 20:45

NDPP

More here:

https://rabble.ca/comment/5667026#comment-5667026

"Claims that the 'NAFTA 2' agreement is better are a macabre joke..."

Tue, 2020-02-18 21:04

Aristotleded24

This is what the Council of Canadians had to say just over one month ago:

Quote:

The Council of Canadians was pleased to see several of its historical demands met:

Investor-state provisions which allow corporations to sue states over environmental and public policy will be gone in the new agreement between Canada and the U.S.

The removal of energy proportionality, which mandates Canada to export quotas of energy to the U.S.

Canada’s cultural protections were expanded.

Provisions that would extend market protections for pharmaceutical drugs for Big Pharma were removed.

Oustanding concerns included:

Quote:

There are specific Canadian and progressive concerns that have not yet been addressed:

Canadian dairy farmers would be sacrificed to allow U.S. dairy products into our grocery stores, including milk from cows injected with genetically-engineered bovine growth hormone.

The provisions around environmental protections are still far too weak. There is no mention of the climate crisis, and very little about greenhouse gas pollution, when we have less than 10 years to address both before catastrophic climate change.

Foreign and domestic corporations would be granted greater rights to monitor and change Canadian regulations to their benefit on a wide range of public policies.

Marginally better around the edges, but still trash overall is the impression I have on this new agreement based on what little I have read. What really bothers me more than the NDP support for this move is apparently looking to the Democratic Party in the US for guidance rather than making up their own minds. Especially since Bernie Sanders has voted against the deal.

It will be really interesting to see what the Greens do on this. They could vote against this and give themselves a wedge to use against the NDP and gain more votes that way. It's easy to see why the Liberals went to the NDP rather than the Conservatives, the latter of whom would have agreed on almost any free trade agreement. Bad optics on their part. I wish the NDP would have worked harder to gain more concessions. Still, after 25 years of NAFTA, mandatory reviews at 6 years are somewhat of an improvement. That gives us a clear window to organize and push either for dramatic improvements or outright withdrawl from the free trade treaties.

Tue, 2020-02-18 22:53

NDPP

A bit late in the game to suddenly notice we just signed on to another awful neoliberal investors rights agreement, seems to me, as does the lame milquetoast critique by CoC. As for the NDP, well, par for the course. It's somewhat reminiscent of Jack Layton's remarks on the official reversal of the NDP opposition to Canada's NATO membership: 'We're going to change it from within!' Sold-out socialism. Pro free-trade, pro-Israel, pro-'White Helmets', pro US-coup regime Ukraine, etc etc. If enough people cared, they would change this. Obviously enough don't.

Tue, 2020-02-18 22:54

kropotkin1951

Just another reason to abandon a useless party, unless you happen to live in a riding with one of the few effective NDP MP's.

Tue, 2020-02-18 23:00

NDPP

Unfortunately, not merely a'useless' party, but in terms of advancing progressive issues, like BDS, an active enemy.

Wed, 2020-02-19 03:24

Misfit

They cannot get it endorsed with just the NDP alone.

Wed, 2020-02-19 20:04

Aristotleded24

The link that I posted from the CoC is almost a month old. I don't know how they responded to what happened. I do know they called for a full debate on ratification of the agreement, but with the fast-tracking it looks like that will not happen.

I really don't know what the NDP was doing here. If the Liberals needed Opposition support to fast-track this thing, then the NDP was in a power position. They should have played hardball until the Liberals either met their demands or were forced to find a different dance partner. There's no need to worry about the Parliament falling, because with the question of Conservative leadership far from settled, they will do everything they can to avoid having one until that question is sorted out. Speaking of concessions, I'm not sure from reading the article exactly what changes the NDP was able to make. I know Singh praised the Democrats for forcing the deal to be better in the US, and I know Mexico gets higher wages out of this thing. As I said upthread, we should be making up our own minds, but if the NDP wants to follow in the footsteps of left-wing US politicians, why not follow the lead of the most popular Presidential candidate who said that he will renegotiate this deal and that Palestinians should be treated with a basic respect?

This is why the party has problems fundraising. Sanders is able to gain small donations because he has been true to his values and never tried to play the game. If he can keep breaking fundraising records in the US, which has a political environment most hostile to left-wing politics in the industrialized world, the NDP has no excuse. They should try to stand on their principles and not crack under pressure for once.

It will be interesting to see how the Greens respond. I hope someone keeps us updated on that.

Wed, 2020-02-19 20:47

NDPP

The Best of the Left: Throwing Our Weight Around - the Future of Trade (and vid)

https://www.bestoftheleft.com/_1336_throwing_our_weight_around_the_futur...

"Today we look at the ways Trump is working to rewrite the rules of trade with NAFTA 2.0