De-regulation and privatization Still on Agenda

Proponents of Canada's Internal Free Trade Agenda trying to keep low profile.

A report released March 31 by the Council of Canadians entitled "State of Play: Canada's Internal Free Trade Agenda", provides an overview of the current state of government efforts to complete a framework of internal agreements concerning trade, investment and labour mobility. The Council wants to shed light on Canada's domestic trade agenda and provides overview of the various internal trade agreements that have recently been concluded or are now being negotiated.

The report describes some of the serious impacts these agreements are likely to have on the capacity of Canadian governments, at all levels, to respond to present economic, ecological and social challenges. While few Canadians are familiar with this domestic trade agenda, it promises to have far-reaching effects on the economy, public services and the environment.

Under these agreements, dispute procedures may be invoked to challenge government policies and actions that are taken to achieve a diversity of societal goals, from protecting the environment, water and public health, and providing public services such as health care and child care, to using public funds to stimulate local economies. Trade officials describe their initiatives as 'trade liberalization' - an agenda that would limit the role of government by promoting policies of de-regulation and privatization.

De-regulation and privatization are of course precisely what many people now agree are the policies that have been ruinous for domestic and global economies, and played a key role in forestalling meaningful efforts to address climate change and other pressing ecological challenges. Those vested interests still in favour of this approach like the concept of Internal Free Trade agreements because they can provide unprecedented grounds for asserting the interests of private service providers, and a sympathetic forum for doing so, it is likely to become the preferred venue for those seeking to privatize public services.

Some provinces, such as Alberta and British Columbia, are going down the internal trade agreement road on their own initiative. Those that don't may find themselves being pressured by the federal Conservative government. The Harper government is so committed to this agenda that they've indicated that they're prepared to test the limits of federal constitutional powers by imposing 'free trade' rules on provinces that refuse to go along with internal trade agreements.

If you'd like to more about this issue, you can download the full 19-page report in PDF format (139kb) released by the Council of Canadians.