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Tuesday, December 3, 2013

December meeting - Monday, Dec. 9, 2013

Council of Canadians, London Chapter

Monday,  December 9,  2013  - 6:30 - 9:00 pm

Location:  Tolpuddle Co-op  general room (380 Adelaide between Dundas and King)

December Agenda


6:30 - 6:40  coffee, tea, finger food -2 volunteers needed to bring food  (519-601-2053) 

1) Introductions
Chair - Roberta Cory
Treasurer - Masoud Karimi
Secretary - Aldous Smith
Membership - Geoff Crealock - update
Media and Communications - David Heap 
Website/social media - Rory Cory
Trade Justice - Jennifer Chesnut - Stop CETA history and update
Social Justice Film Festival - Marie France - history and update - "Water Rights" films  in April
Water - Teresa Rutten - ban bottled water update
Peace and Social Justice - David Heap - history and update - People's Social Forum
Health - Jeff Hanks - history and update
Liaison - Rod Morley - networking 
2)   Treasurer's report - Masoud
a) discussion about donation to East Village Coffee House for AGM facilitation 
b) fundraising ideas  - send them by e-mail
3)   New Ideas for actions
a) Social/Environmental Justice Book Club - Julie Picken-Cooper or Marie France
b) Street Theatre - Julie Picken-Cooper or Roberta
c) Spawn of CETApus - Roberta Cory
d) Food Security - bees - Celeste 
e) Line 9 and IdleNoMore - Rod
f) Ontario Power Generation proposed radioactive waste dump near Kincardine 
g) OPAL - Oxford People Agains the Landfill - Margo
h) Earth Day Parade - Roberta
i) Idea Cards from Maude's Blue Future event at Aeolian Hall Nov. 25, 2013

4) Date and place for January meeting?
8:30 - 9:00  sign up for interest groups - discussion - networking - refreshments

Bus goes down Dundas. Ride pooling - offer a ride or need a ride - 519-601-2053

Thursday, November 28, 2013

London CoC Steering Committee


The following members of the Steering Committee for the London Chapter were elected at our AGM on November 25, 2013:

Roberta Cory, Chapter Chair:
Roberta joined the CoC in 2001 and was active on the Water Committee of the London Chapter. From 2005 to 2010 she was on the Board of the Victoria, BC Chapter as Membership Chair. She was instrumental in restarting the London Chapter in 2010 and has devoted a large portion of her life since then towards Trade Justice, Water, and Mining Justice issues.

Masoud Karimi, Treasurer:
Former bookkeeper and Math teacher.

Aldous Smith, Secretary:
Aldous became a Council of Canadians member in 2012. As well as attending rallies, writing letters and helping create advertising and C of C booths for various events, he has worked as the designated printer and editor for the London chapter. He has two Masters degrees from Western, and he is a published author and literary critic.

David Heap, Media & Communications Chair:
Associate professor (French & Linguistics) at Western and father of two, David has served in the past as Peace & Social Justice chair for the London Chapter of the Council of Canadians. He is also active locally with People for Peace London, and the Latin American Canadian Solidarity Association (LACASA), and nationally / internationally with the Canadian Boat to Gaza / Gaza's Ark campaign (endorsed by the Council of Canadians). He has often acted as media spokesperson for different causes, and has published widely on e.g. rabble.ca, among other places.

Geoff Crealock, Membership Chair:
Geoff has served over the past three years as Membership Chair.

Robert Cory (“Rory”), Website/Social Media Admin:
Retired professor at Western. Member since 2001. Webmaster for the Victoria, BC Chapter 2006-2010. Website/Social Media Admin for the London, ON Chapter since 2011.


Monday, November 11, 2013

Mining Justice Film Festival this weekend!

A weekend long film festival focusing on the role of Canadian extractive industries at home and abroad. Eye-opening documentaries; current, relevant and controversial issues. Panel discussions, refreshments, information tables.
Get informed, join the debate, get involved! We will be at the Stevenson-Hunt Rooms of the Central Library.

Extracting the Earth is a 3 day free film series that will examine the impact of Canadian extractive industries on the communities where they operate, here and in Latin America. Our intention is to educate and inform the public, as well as to foster discussion on the many aspects related to extraction such as: First Nations rights; environmental and health impacts on the affected communities; human and labour rights; social and economic aspects, including the corporate social responsibility of these multinational corporations. It will be the first time in London that a 3 day film festival is dedicated entirely to these topics.

Dates: November 15, 16 and 17th, 2013

Place: Public Central Library, Stevenson-Hunt rooms

FREE ADMISSION

REFRESHMENTS

MUSIC

INFORMATION TABLES

ALL ARE WELCOME!

Sponsors: Council of Canadians (London Chapter), Heart-Links, King's Centre for Social Concern, Latin American-Canadian Solidarity Association (LACASA), Root Cellar Organic Cafe, and Seeds of Hope.

Day 1- Friday, November 15th, 6:00-10 pm Focus on Guatemala

• Introduction and analysis by Grahame Russell of Rights Action via Skype.
• London premiere of Gold Fever: feature film on the impact of open pit gold mining in Guatemala and the role of Canadian mining giant Goldcorp.

Discussion

Refreshment break

• Short film on the eviction of a Mayan peasant community in El Estor, Guatemala, and Defensora (trailer).
Presentation by professor Lorraine McNeil, Fanshawe College, about the pending court cases in Ontario against Hudbay Minerals, the company linked to the events depicted in the films.

Discussion

Day 2- Saturday, November 16th, 5:30- 9:00 pm Focus on Peru and Mexico

• Accountability Gap: a short film on the conflict in Durango, Mexico, with Canadian mining company Excellon. Presentation by Esla Arismendi on the work done by the NGO ProDesc and the Steelworkers of Canada;
• In the Heart of Conga: feature film on the Conga gold mine in Cajamarca, Peru;

Refreshment break

• Kañaris: shorts on Canadian mining company Candente in Lambayeque, Peru.

Discussion via Skype with Gustavo Gorretti, renowned Peruvian journalist, and the public.

Day 3- Sunday, November 17th, 1:00-5:00 pm Focus on Canada

• H2Oil: feature film on the impact of tar sands extraction on the Athabasca First Nations communities;
• Shattered Ground: feature film on hydraulic fracking in Canada and the US, narrated by David Suzuki.
Presentation on fracking by Gary Brown, environmentalist, and discussion with the public.

Refreshment break

• Panel discussion with CBC journalist Karin Wells, Jamie Kneen of Mining Watch Canada (TBC), a First Nations spokesperson (TBC) and a legal expert (TBC).

Q&A session

Acknowledgements and conclusion


For more information, go to:
        http://bit.ly/ETEfilmseries

-   Rights Action: http://www.rightsaction.org/
-   Mining Watch: http://www.miningwatch.ca/
-   Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability:
     http://cnca-rcrce.ca/
-   Council of Canadians: http://canadians.org/
-    Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives:
     http://www.policyalternatives.ca
-   Amnesty International:
     www.amnesty.ca/open-for-justice

Friday, October 11, 2013

Urgent Warning: Our Bank Deposits Are No Longer Safe



As a result of recent changes to the rules governing the financial system operating throughout the G20 nations, a serious threat has arisen to the finances of individuals, families, and institutions that have entrusted their assets to major banks.  Here's the situation:  in case "systemically important" banks should fail, they are now authorized to take over the assets of their clients, including our deposits! This procedure is known as a "bail-in”—as distinguished from a "bail-out”—and it has already been implemented in Cyprus. This threat has been thoroughly documented by Ellen Hodgson Brown (author of two extraordinary books on our money system, The Web of Debt, and, just published, The Public Bank Solution), and by the Public Banking Institute, which she founded. For a vivid, compelling explanation of the crisis provided by the Institute, see this brief video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-sHAwNfoL4 .  Given the vast, destabilizing involvement of major banks in derivatives gambling, about ten times the volume of the real economy as this video shows, major banks are constantly at risk of failing, and suddenly triggering a bail-in assault on our assets.  The peril is especially clear in Canada which legalized the bail-in procedure in its 2013 Federal Budget.  See: www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/depositors-beware .  But this bail-in agenda was mandated for all the G20 nations at their 2011 meeting, and it is likely to be reenforced by provisions of the CETA and TPP, the vast so-called “trade agreements” presently being negotiated.

Having been assured that the bail-in rescue plan is readily available in case they fail, banks are all the more likely to participate in speculative activity.  When driven to insolvency by their losses in derivatives gambling, the losing banks' first priority must be to pay off the winning banks ("counter parties") with whatever resources they can muster, now including their clients' assets—our financial resources.  The outrage of bail-ins includes the "super-priority status" of bank "counter parties" over our claims as bank clients.

The danger from bail-ins is especially high at the moment.  If the US government on October 17 defaults on its debt, the global financial system, with some $700 trillion of speculative derivatives churning around, may be thrown into the sort of chaos that would bring a major financial meltdown, perhaps surpassing that of 2008, with many bank failures resulting in bail-ins, bringing a massive shift of financial resources from the middle class to the already obscenely wealthy.  Even if we escape this immediate peril—perhaps only temporarily—the threat to our financial welfare from the banks' speculative excesses remains imminent.  Add to this the proclivity of private banks intentionally to engineer depressions for their own benefit (there is rich documentation available for this), and the dangers hanging over us become all the more imminent.

Ultimately it will require persistent political action to eliminate the grossly unjust bail-in threat—e.g., outlawing bail-ins altogether, developing public banking, restoring the Glass-Steagall Act (which separated investment banking—mostly derivatives gambling now—from depository banking and insurance).  But for the present, what personal actions might we take to protect ourselves?  We all need to be seeking alternatives to the mainline banks that we can no longer trust.  It may be possible for individuals and institutions to find safe haven for their financial resources by using credit unions. The risk probably differs from one credit union to another. We need to explore with each specific credit union the extent to which members' assets are entrusted to major banks—preferably not at all.  We need to consider becoming active credit union members, constantly vigilant regarding the safety of our collective resources.  We can no longer take it for granted that our bank deposits are safe.

George Crowell   October 7, 2013

Thursday, October 3, 2013

More Announcements from our Facilitator

Members,

I have news for you on four items.

1. The first issue is we have had a change of date for our monthly meeting. Due to conflict we have had to change just this meeting from Tuesday Oct. 8th to Thursday Oct. 10th at the Tolpuddle CO-OP. Start time is still 7:00PM.

I am putting an agenda together and I should have done by tomorrow at the latest. If anyone has any items that they would like to bring forward, please send them to me ASAP.


2. I missed one event from the last blast. Starting Friday November 15th, a film series brought to you by The Seeds of Hope, the Latin American Canadian Solidarity Association, Heart-Links, Mining Watch, The Centre for Social Concern at King's University College and the Council of Canadians: Extracting the Earth: Canada and Beyond.

It is a free film series about how Canadian and American resource companies are conducting themselves not only in Canada but in Latin American countries as well. Discussions follow the movies.

All films are being shown at the Stevenson-Hunt Room at the Central Public Library.

Friday Nov. 15th, 6:00-10:00PM: London premiere of Gold Fever. A movie about mining in Columbia.
Saturday Nov.16th, 5:30-9:00PM: Films about Canadian and American mining in Peru and Mexico
Sunday Nov. 17th: The Hole Story and films about fracking in Canada.

For more details email LACASA at LACASA.London@gmail.com

3. If anyone is interested in participating in this event: October 19th is the day of the Global Frackdown#2. It is a day to join with people around the world to say no to fracking anywhere. Some chapters are getting involved but most of them are being directly affected by fracking. London has not been affected by fracking yet but with fracking occurring around the Great Lakes basin, it will only be a matter of time. Check out : www.globalfrackdown.org for more details.

4. There has been an interest to try and resurrect the London Environmental Network. It was originally started to try and bring environmental groups together in London and to try and support the actions of other groups and to make sure to try to coordinate events  so there wouldn't be five or six environmental events happening on the same day. With what is happening with Pen-Equity, London Hydro being threatened and other issues around London, there has been a jump of people joining the LEN Facebook site. Perhaps it is time that environmental, social justice groups and political groups to come together. Check out the Facebook site (search for London Environmental Network) and lets get the conversation started.


Rod Morley, Facilitator, London Chapter, Council of Canadians

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Upcoming Events

It is going to be busy season for events and meetings, both for Council events and events that many of our members that are active in. I will provide you with only of the many events that I know of that are coming. I will be quite willing to create many more updates for our members if anyone has an event they would like promoted. The first one starts later today:

September 24th @ 1:00PM Victoria Park Bandshell: London Rally for support of Tarek Loubani and John Greyson. There is a concurring rally happening in Montreal as well. There are also transportation provided for people providing they can get to University Hospital on Perth Drive and or Victoria Hospital, in front of the B Tower on Base Line Rd. E. by 12:30PM. For more details, check on Facebook or do a web search.

September 25th @ 7:00PM Vitali Student Lounge, Kings University College 266 Epworth Ave: A video and a discussion with its director on Why Professors Can't Tell You The Truth About 9/11. Should make for thought provoking insights into the world. Free admission and free parking. For more information contact Ed Corrigan 519 439-4015 

September 27th @ 11:00 AM 148 Fullarton Street: Tell Fortune Minerals: Get Out of the Sacred Headwaters. Fortune Minerals is a London based resource company that is planning to remove a mountain top in B.C. to exploit the coal reserves there. The B.C. Government did not work with the Tahltan Nation, where this mountain resides. Any mining there has the potential of destroying three rivers and the way of life of the Tahltan Nation. This is not how we want London Companies to do business. 148 Fullarton St. is the head office of Fortune Minerals. 

September 28th @ 10:00 AM Queens Park ( Western Fair Grounds behind the Western Fair Market ): The Local Organized Organic Knowledge or L.O.O.K. Fest. An all day event providing you with new knowledge and just plain good feelings. For details, check Facebook or contact Jennifer Chestnut. 

After the L.O.O.K. Fest, a nice drive might be in order for : September 28th @7:00PM Bayfield Town Hall: Our own Maude Barlow will be speaking. The topic will be The Great Lakes will need Great Friends. This is the same topic that Maude spoke about last year in London but I am sure that there will be new material covered including some discussion of her new book Blue Future and she will be signing copies of her other books Blue Covenant and Blue Gold. Admission $25.00. If there is enough interest we might be able to arrange some car pooling. Contact me at 519 872-0008 or rmorley1@sympatico.ca to see what we can do. 

October 8th @ 7:00PM General Room Tolpuddle CO-OP 380 Adelaide St. N. ( across from the London Police Station ): The London Chapter of the Council of Canadian's first monthly meeting. This is still very much an open meeting with discussions of past and future events. If any member would like to discuss a certain issue or promote an event from one of their other groups, contact me at 519 872-0008 or rmorley1@sympatico.ca to have your information added to the agenda. More information about our AGM in November will be discussed as well. 

November 5th @ 5:00PM Victoria Park: Million Mask March. People from around the world are gathering that day ( Guy Fawkes Day) to remind the world what it has forgotten. That fairness, justice and freedom are more than just words. People are gathering at 5:00PM and a march is happening at 6:00PM. Anonymous masks will be provided for those who attend. This is not a protest because you are not allowed to cover your face anymore in Canada if you are protesting. Search for Million Mask March- London Ontario on Facebook for more information. 

November 15th @ 9:00AM More information to follow. The CoC has been asked to take part in the OPSEU youth day discussing Water is a Human Right. We will be talking for 45mins to a an hour about water issues. I will add more details about this event shortly but I would welcome assistance from some of our more passionate members about water to assist me in preparing our discussion and in having a table for information about water and our initiatives contact me at 519 872-0008 or rmorley1@sympatico.ca 

November 25th @ 7:00PM ( Tentative date): The London Chapter's Annual General Meeting. More details to come very soon about this night. Elections for the Chapter's executives will occur that night. Please see our bylaws (next blog post) for more information and duties of each position. 

That is all for now but more information will be coming soon about the future dates. If you have an event that you would like to promote to the Chapter's members, please feel free to contact me. I still want top hear from members on ways that we can improve the Chapter. This is your Chapter. Help me to help all of us in making this a more relevant force across the region. 

Sincerely 

Rod Morley, Facilitator

Proposed Amended By-laws for London Chapter to be Voted on at November AGM

Proposed amended bylaws for the London Chapter of the Council of Canadians are now available online. Those who attend our AGM here in London in November will have a chance to vote on them. Amendments are shown in red.

http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/ProposedAmendedBylaws2013.pdf

The current bylaws can be found here:

http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/Bylaws.pdf

Monday, July 22, 2013

CYPRUS-TYPE “BAIL-INS” PLANNED FOR CANADA

CYPRUS-TYPE “BAIL-INS” PLANNED FOR CANADA
by Jerry Ackerman and George Crowell
(Published in the July/August 2013 issue of the CCPA Monitor)

One of our most solidly entrenched assumptions, going back even to childhood, is that when we deposit our money in a bank, it is safe and available for our use at any time.  So back in March when we learned that the European financial powers-that-be were arranging to rescue the troubled banks of Cyprus by appropriating the money entrusted to them by depositors, we were shocked.  We might have been less disturbed if a portion only of large uninsured deposits were to be taken.  But when we learned that 6.75%  even of small, insured deposits under 100,000 euros were targeted, we fully understood why Cypriots were angrily protesting in the streets.  These protests led the Cypriot Parliament courageously to take small depositors off the hook—except for any hardships which result from having their withdrawals limited to 300 euros per day.  But 60% of deposits over 100,000 euros were seized to rescue the banks and, allegedly, the economy of Cyprus.
This procedure—this theft—is now known as a “bail-in” as distinguished from a “bail-out” such as that engineered massively in the U.S. in 2008 in order to rescue the “too-big-to-fail” banks, whose speculative and fraudulent practices brought on the devastating, ongoing Great Recession.  A bail-out steals from taxpayers, whereas a bail-in steals from depositors.  Pretty much the same people.
But we in Canada can take comfort, can we not, from the oft-repeated assurance of the Harper government that our exceptionally sound Canadian banking system is immune from such abuses.  How, then, are we to account for the fact that the 2013 omnibus Federal Budget, passed June 10th courtesy of Harper's majority Conservatives, included a barely noticed provision announcing that any major Canadian bank which may get into deep trouble will be rescued through a bail-in?  Here is the wording of that provision:
“The Government proposes to implement a 'bail-in' regime for systemically important banks.  This regime will be designed to insure that, in the unlikely event that a systemically important bank depletes its capital, the bank can be recapitalized and returned to viability through the very rapid conversion of certain bank liabilities into regulatory capital.  This will reduce risks for taxpayers.  The Government will consult stakeholders on how best to implement a bail-in regime for Canada....”
Included among “bank liabilities” are our deposits; “regulatory capital” consists of shares of the bank's stock.  With bank insolvency imminent, “certain bank liabilities” (how vague can you get?)—including insured and uninsured deposits, mutual funds, “guaranteed” investment certificates, retirement savings plans, etc.—would be subject to conversion into bank shares.  The funds realized would be used in attempts to bring the troubled bank back to solvency.  Depositors would no longer have immediate access to their money, but as shareholders, would be free to sell their stock, perhaps at a considerable loss.
Responding to expressions of alarm about this Budget provision, the Harper government issued a “clarification”:  “The bail-in scenario described in the Budget has nothing to do with depositors' accounts and they will in no way be used here [in Canada].  Those accounts will continue to remain insured [up to $100,000] through the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation, as always.”  Can we trust this assurance?  The legislation says nothing about guaranteeing protection for depositors.  And even if insured deposits are  intended for favoured treatment, we have no way of knowing whether the CDIC would have sufficient resources to cope with a financial meltdown.  And we are expected to be comforted by the fact that taxpayers would be spared!
How did the bail-in procedure get imposed on us?  It was embraced as an alternative to using bail-outs which might provoke resistance from taxpayers and governments as occurred in Iceland.  The Bank of International Settlements, which dominates the central banks of capitalist nations in the interests of private banking, pushed the bail-in alternative.  This procedure was approved by G20 nations at their 2011 meeting.  With passage of our 2013 Budget, we can now be told that bail-ins have been “democratically” approved for Canada.
And the story gets even worse.  As we know, the world's largest banks have been gambling with high-risk derivatives on an immense scale—in the U.S. some $230trillion!  Banks on the losing side of derivative bets can quickly be driven to insolvency.  With the recently accepted bail-in strategy, we can expect that the winning derivative  operator, the “counter-party,” will now be given priority over all other creditors, including depositors!  We do not know the extent to which our Canadian banks are involved in risky derivatives.  But so intertwined are global banking operations that our banks might suffer from collapse initiated elsewhere.  We are being set up for sudden, larger than ever shifts of wealth from the middle class to the already obscenely rich.  For further information, see articles by Ellen Brown at www.webofdebt.com .

(Jerry Ackerman, Ph.D., is a financial analyst and advocate of public banking; George Crowell, retired University of Windsor professor, has been working on monetary issues since 1994.)

Friday, June 28, 2013

Roberta Cory's letter to the editor of the London Free Press re CETA

Editor:

On June 27, 2013 the London Free Press published the results of a poll (Canadians unaware of trade talks: Poll) about citizens' perceptions of the Canadian/ European Union trade deal Harper is trying to complete. The Harper government has been secretive about the contents of this "deal" and has avoided any public discussion of possible negatives to local communities if it is signed. Our own elected representatives, when asked about the details, have admitted that they are as much in the dark as we are. The Harper government is clearly trying to circumvent the democratic process and to muddy the waters to prevent any transparency in this negotiation. 

What we do know is this:  it is the first time that a Canadian Trade Agreement will operate at a local level. It means the unprecedented opening up to foreign investors of our essential public services such as water.  It includes the controversial investor-state dispute settlement clause, which, in everyday language, means that a foreign corporation has the right to make a profit and the right to sue a municipality if any local by-laws designed to protect our quality of life cut into their anticipated profit.  This would weaken or over ride any environmental laws now in place and allow foreign owned corporations to underbid local businesses for food contracts, labour, equipment, and services. 

Do Canadians know that in Europe the media carry up to date information about the progress of the trade negotiations?  Europeans know what the EU is demanding and what Canada is giving up. Much of the information that we citizens get in Canada came from European sources and not from our own government. If we do get a bit of information it is likely to be about cheese or beef. We are not told that Harper is willing to extend patents on pharmaceuticals which will mean fewer generic drugs and escalating drug costs to consumers. 

Trade Agreements seem remote to most citizens. The language of such agreements is off putting. Many Canadians trust their MPs and MPPs to handle this sort of thing for them. They trust that their government has their best interests in mind. The Canada/EU Trade Agreement has only the interests of international corporations in mind. It is not something remote, it is very personal. It is about our neighbourhood and our town. We need to wake up and act now. 

Roberta Cory

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Love that Purple Potato! CETA and other "free trade" agreements threaten family farms in favour of factory farming by global mega-corporations.


Love that Purple Potato! 

by Jennifer Chesnut

One of the joys of the farmer's market is experiencing the ancestry of forgotten vegetables and fruits -- those purple potatoes, paddy pan squashes, and crimson carrots. Fields in Southwestern Ontario and across the planet are capable of exquisite magic. With a little sunshine and rain, they turn up a fascination of shapes, sizes and flavours. Because of the people’s movement to get back to eating within the nearest hundred miles, we are experiencing more local variety than the last twenty-five years of free trade food even though globalization is supposed to create more options. Why have most of us not met the purple potato until recently? The answer is simple. Farmers in our region, like everywhere else, have been experiencing numerous pressures to stay afloat since the late eighties in free trade economies that focus on distant export pathways not regional networks. During Canada’s first two decades of free trade from 1988 to 2010, approximately seventy-five thousand family farms were lost and farm debt tripled. One of the side effects of competing in free trade agriculture is that farmers are pressured to grow mono-crops. These are common crops that can travel the globe far distances and make the most bulk profit.
CETA, the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement, a huge deal with Europe, the United States and Mexico, is the most radical free trade policy Canada has ever considered. One of the dangers is CETA will encourage more long distance travel of food and in the process diminish our farmers’ options. Ontario farms will be competing with corporate farms from over twenty countries to serve you dinner. Though the deal is supposed to be signed with only the European Union, because of NAFTA, whatever sectors are opened to European corporations, will also be opened to American and Mexican big business. In CETA, specific unnecessary restrictions will punish our farmers. The National Farmers Union is alarmed that because of the way CETA’s intellectual property laws are written, farmers will likely no longer be able to save seed year to year but be forced to purchase them every year anew.
Looking down the road, citizens will be subject to the cultural impacts at the Saturday morning market by what federal Conservative Trade Minister Ed Fast calls the most ambitious deal ever negotiated. If the small and medium sized family farms survive the post-CETA era, they will be pressured to use the seeds that Monsanto and other agricorps sell. This means more genetic modification, less variety and less indigenous heirloom plants.
CETA isn’t an issue for bureaucrats. It’s about your family’s life. It’s going to impact the food you eat, the water you drink, the hydro you use and more. And don’t expect that when the municipal public Commons are opened for permanent foreign corporate bidding that costs are going to decrease or stable job opportunities will grow. If this did occur in the last twenty-five years of a Free Trade Canada, all the mamas and the papas would be singing its praises.
Besides our memories of life before free trade, an eyes open attitude and a good look at Statistics Canada can help us remember. For example, the first NAFTA decade of the nineties saw the highest rates of unemployment in Canada since the Great Depression. Necessary global trade is valuable. But free trade deals like the CETA don’t bring you soy sauce from Japan but they do diminish your local food options. Don’t take my word for it, look around and remember all the family farms that have disappeared since the seventies and eighties. Remember those rolling fields of corn that were not genetically modified. Remember how much closer you were to nature’s pastures.
CETA puts serious pressure on family farms to survive and ensures that corporate mega farms thrive. Join the wave of Canadian city councillors and citizens that are saying no to this vision. Toronto, Stratford and London are just three out of forty municipalities across the country that have asked their Premier for official exemption from CETA to protect their families and regional food networks. In this last month before its signing, citizens are contacting their city council, MPPs and MPs to ask that their municipality be opted out permanently. If we allow CETA to become trade law, we may just lose those purple potatoes, but we are also going to lose a whole lot more.
*Previously published at www.ecolivinglondon.org