The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership passed third reading after very limited debate in the House of Commons. “Most of what has changed in the CPTPP is the branding. The Trudeau government is now pretending that it is progressive, but it still has the toxic Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanisms that allow companies to sue countries over … Read more
More than 50 people set out from Mahone Bay and Lower Prospect, N.S. to defend their communities, the lobster fishery, and the coastally-dependent tourism industry from the risks of offshore drilling. The paddlers are adding their voices to the growing call for a moratorium on offshore drilling and inquiry into decision-making about offshore resources. The flotillas … Read more
The Council of Canadians will be presenting as an intervenor in the federal-provincial Joint Review Panel’s hearings on Teck Resources’ proposed Frontier Mine. The Council will be presenting evidence that the proposed tar sands mine is not in the public interest, is economically, socially, and environmentally unacceptable, and will be calling on the Panel to reject … Read more
As the House of Commons resumes, the implementation of the so-called Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership will be the second bill on the House of Common’s agenda. “Don’t be fooled,” says Maude Barlow, Honorary Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “This is the same Harper agreement with new Liberal management. It doesn’t even have the … Read more
“In spite of Canada saying this will be the most worker and environmentally friendly deal ever, the same corporate interests that triggered NAFTA 1.0 are the real power behind NAFTA 2.0,” says Maude Barlow, Honorary Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “Canada’s mining corporations, for example, with their horrible human rights and environmental practices in other communities are at the … Read more
As NAFTA talks head to the wire, Maude Barlow, Honorary Chair of the Council of Canadians, pleads that Canada should not give in to last-minute U.S. pressure to ditch NAFTA’s cultural exemption. “We have to protect and cherish culture at the NAFTA bargaining table,” she said. “Cultural exemption helps ensure that, next to Hollywood, Netflix and the … Read more
The Council of Canadians congratulates Indigenous leadership for an important legal victory against the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker project. “This fight was led by First Nations who were not adequately consulted and now the government, if it persists in its flawed support of the Kinder Morgan pipeline, must entirely restart the process of … Read more
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that the North American Free Trade Agreement will be now called the “U.S.–Mexico Trade Agreement” after shutting Canada out of negotiations for weeks. “Changing the name will not change NAFTA’s destructive footprint. It will even make it worse. By changing the name, Trump is threatening to push Canada out … Read more
Days after BP spilled drilling mud offshore of Nova Scotia, more than 25 organizations have sent an open letter calling on Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna (Ottawa-Centre, Ont.) to halt BP’s offshore drilling near Sable Island National Park Reserve. The letter calls on McKenna to revisit the approval of BP’s application in light of new … Read more
A new report to be released by the Council of Canadians, Escaping Mandatory Energy Exports, University of Alberta professor Gordon Laxer explains that energy proportionality obligates Canada to make available for export to the United States, the same proportion of its energy as it has in the past three years. “Trump sees Canadian oil as American oil,” … Read more
