Buy Local. Build Local. Stop CETA.

How is it that global warming is increasing when citizens are consuming more consciously? How is it that the violation of the tar sands continues to amplify in this corner of our planetary home when the majority of Canadians do not support it? How is it that Canadian waters are being rapidly disrupted when we are taking action to stop the abuse of water like municipal water bottle bans?

How is it that the MET closed when Londoners are falling in love with the feeling of buying locally crafted goods? How is it that London’s once thriving downtown culture and commerce and the streetcar service in Wortley Village were so thoroughly dismantled that we can barely remember what they looked like?

All of these shifts have been created in the context of the global corporate agenda for unrestricted free trade. Monoculture farming, privatization of public services and nullification of regulations to protect community interests, these are all signs of the shift from a local economy of citizens to global economy of corporations.

The breaking of barriers to the global flow of capital hit Canada hard with the FTA and NAFTA in 1989 and 1993, respectively. Like a slow-boil, we have been seeing the cultural erosion in London from a thriving community centred around the downtown core to a series of buying stations.

Global trade is one aspect of economy but should never be put above our local economies, our earth, our health, our culture, our sense of community.

This race to demolish labour, culture and environment standards will shoot through the roof in Canada in 2012 if the Prime Minister signs CETA, the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement.

Buy Local. Build Local. Stop CETA.

by Jennifer Chesnut, Co-Chair, Stop CETA Committee, London CoC

(Originally published in London Fuse:
http://londonfuse.ca/blog/buy-local-build-local-stop-ceta)