Trudeau government signed Canada onto the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

 

You may have heard the news. Just hours ago, the Trudeau government signed Canada onto the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). 

This is the same terrible TPP deal the Harper government negotiated. The words “comprehensive” and “progressive” have just been added to make it easier for Canada and the other 10 Pacific Rim countries to sell it to us.

I bet you’re as outraged as I am.

From the outset, Prime Minister Trudeau promised “real change” on how Canada approached international trade and the kinds of agreements we would signed. He promised to consult with Canadians and Indigenous peoples, listen to our concerns and take action accordingly. He promised to do trade differently than Harper.

But he hasn’t followed through on his promises. Instead, he signed Canada onto the same deal Harper negotiated. The dangerous provisions in the original TPP were only suspended, not deleted or removed. This was done in order to lure the United States back to the table. 

As for those “progressive” changes? Provisions on gender equity, cultural identity and Indigenous rights are all non-binding. Meanwhile, what are binding are the unprecedented rights granted to transnational corporations and the serious risks the deal holds for Canadians, including:

• Further entrenchment of Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS): This provision gives transnational corporations the power to sue Canada over public policies and environmental protections that threaten profits.
   
• Job losses: A January 2016 study found that the original TPP would cost Canada 58,000 jobs and increase income inequality.
   
• Minimal economic gain: According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Canada’s economy stands to make only tiny gains from the CPTPP (for example, a 0.082 per cent increase in Canadian GDP by 2035), which are minuscule compared to risks involved with signing up to the agreement.

These and many other troubling provisions still make the CPTPP a bad deal for Canada.

Now the good news.

The CPTPP still needs to be ratified in all countries – and Canada is pushing to do so before the end of this year.

This means we still have time to mount the level of public pressure and political will needed to reject the CPTPP in favour of a truly progressive trade deal that puts people and the planet before corporate profits.

But we must act now!

Please add your voice to our new national petition calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland to scrap the CPTPP once and for all.