The Great Turning – Negotiations for Public Power

Who will control our power in this crucial decade? 

With the race for climate security on, energy is risky (and expensive) business to be run by corporations. We know there has been irreversible damage to the atmosphere, land and waters. We feel shame and we want change. More serious than the carbon impact of one company, the risks of regional management by a fossil fuel cartel are many. A sustainable energy future requires public control. What will it take for the government of Canada to follow the people’s will? 

The Great Turning 

We live in a time of contrast that raises hope and fear. We put our heads in the sand or open our minds to the question – how can I serve? For me the pressure brings both responses: hope inspired by creative localization, and fear and grief from the dismantling of the commons by private interests. David Korten, and other progressives, call this time of tumultuous change: the Great Turning. Trade and investment pacts are mechanisms of the power crisis because they are the long-term platform for the extraction-privatization of nations. With the new deals, city assets and municipal energy bodies are being traded on the free market. In Ontario where I live provincial and municipal energy service is in the process of being privatized. Selling this people’s asset without permission, and hiring private corporations to run it into perpetuity, is a deal breaker for me. In these energy shaky times, I want the next generation to inherit a public system. This knowing is resultant from more than my Tar Sands shame. Privatizing the energy of Canada’s most populous province risks essential stuff, like affordable rates and service quality. In this blog I explore why energy sectors should not privatize, and if they do, never through trade. I also ask questions about the plans to deregulate Ontario energy. 

Extreme Risks 

 What does it mean to have corporations be in charge of energy? Very few of us can survive off the grid – the majority rely on public energy. All day long we employ energy sources in service of our eating, bathing, working, learning. Nearly all our activities are beholden to shared power. Just like water, energy is essential and the quality of our lives depends on its availability. Many problems can arise when energy becomes managed by for-profit interests. With privatization (or p3ing) we frequently see: decreased access, service limitations, job cuts, rate increases, and environmental risks. California saw rolling blackouts when they privatized. Ontario has its own privatization stories that have increased stress and expense like the 407 highway and Hamilton city water. Because of repeated problems, many municipalities are bringing energy (and other life-dependent sectors) back to public hands. Hamburg Germany residents won an energy referendum in 2013 and are in the process of bringing their energy service fully public again. The purpose behind the “Our Hamburg, Our Grid” campaign is to reclaim public authority in order to create a system based in renewables. Under a North American style trade treaty, like CETA-TTIP, this change could be difficult. 

Ontario announces privatization 

Ontario’s premier, Kathleen Wynne, recently announced her intention to sell 60% of the public’s energy shares. Last week, at the London town hall for a public Hydro One, Andrea Horwath, MPP for Hamilton and head of the Ontario NDP party, announced that this number could reach 90% or higher. The transfer of power remains regardless of the percentage, however, Horwath shared this — if Ontario ownership reaches below 10%, the legislation implies that the public will be barred from bringing it back to public control. Why privatize a successful crown corporation that has been generating funds and providing stability since 1906? The government says they will privatize Hydro One to build other public infrastructure – transit lines, roads and bridges with an anticipated 4 billion of the sales, and to pay off debt with the other anticipated 5 billion. This asset makes 300 million a year in dividend income for Ontario people. Why sell it off for small short-term gain when the return is long-term losses forever? The danger for our future is not only the loss of reliable consistent funding but also the ability to shape our energy program and monitor its integrity. The auditor general and provincial ombudsperson have warned that they will no longer be able to monitor a private Hydro One. 

Plausible Future Outcomes 

Big business investors cannot focus on equitable rates and environmental impacts at the expense of their bottom-line. Company survival depends on increasing profit. This does not an-evil-corporation-make, but a dangerous mismatch of public need with private goals. How do energy corporations manage their quarterly profit targets? Increases in rates, decreases in service, or cutting of jobs is likely. What else can do they do to make more money in a context that requires profit growth? In a future Hydro One, we would have no shareholder voice to create renewable infrastructure. The premier knows that we must take care of the climate. She announced a commitment to dealing with climate change this spring. However, encouraging corporations to run Ontario’s energy is fundamentally incongruent with sustainability. Ontario public energy was previously funding renewables until local procurement provisions were banned by the World Trade Organization. Trade law gets in the way of environmental change. 

More of the story can be found here: http://newgenerationtrade.com/2015/04/21/earth-day-isnt-just-for-turning-off-lights/ 

Ontario Energy and Trade Pacts 

The government should not make key policy and structural changes without a public mandate. Doing this behind closed doors and legislating far into the future through trade treaties, like the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), encourages skepticism. For the first time Canadian energy entities of provincial jurisdiction, like Hydro One, and municipal jurisdiction, like Toronto Hydro, will be ruled through international treaty law. According to the CETA text, Ontario’s energy, including Hydro One, the Ontario Energy Board, and major municipal entities are not protected by Annex reservations. On the European side of CETA-TTIP, sustainable energy choices are also not protected. Europeans will lose their ability to favour cleaner energy sources or suffer the threats of ISDS lawsuits. 

Taking Back Power from the CETA-TTIP 

There are many things that work in a profit model, and many that don’t! Corporate energy systems, that put us at risk of going even higher in parts per million, is not on my list of what the generation after us should inherit. What I love about this time is the sweet significance it holds. The Great Turning is abundant with ways to make purpose of our quiet lives. It’s a time of opportunity to think about what we stand for and what we can do to make things better for those coming next. How we power this planet should not be decided by a management team of large corporations nor secretly designed in a trade deal. What you will you do with your power in the Great Turning? What part of story do you feel compelled to voice? Canadian economist Marjorie Griffin Cohen, back in the early days of new trade, in a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study, says this of energy: “It is an industry that provides for human survival in a densely populated and complex world. Electricity is the basic infrastructure for every industry. The significance of who controls its generation and supply cannot be overstated.” After all, energy is an expression of our collective power as a civilization. Right now that power is being taken away. There are so many other possibilities. Let’s shine a light on them. 

http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National_Office_Pubs/electricity.pdf

Jennifer Chesnut

Trade Justice London 
London, Ontario Chapter
Council of Canadians

Originally published here:
http://newgenerationtrade.com/2015/06/02/the-great-turning-negotiations-for-public-power/

The Battle to Buy Local

Some leaders in government are rejecting a binding treaty that diminishes buy-local and allows corporations to sue us if we don’t comply. Do the rest feel that it’s okay? 

Being able to buy and source locally in goods and services is the heartbeat of a community. People value procurement power — it’s key to community security and happiness. Farmer’s market, post office, city square — local procurement not only secures jobs but it’s the fabric of community relationships. With free trade, local exchange is being shrunk to carve out markets for transnational corporations, and a super-national law system, ISDS, is being erected to enforce this goal. 

Last week, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador took a stand. Premier Paul Davis told the federal Conservatives they would not take part in the CETA, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, without compensation. The province join an ignored group of approximately forty Canadian municipalities who between 2010 and 2014 sent resolutions to upper government requesting exclusion. The concern for the province and the city councils is CETA’s restrictions to buying and processing locally. Newfoundland is refusing to participate because of these impacts on fisheries. Jobs in fish plants are expected to be lost to align with the ban on local standards. The province says that the federal government originally agreed to compensate for the incalculable loss with $280 million in a fisheries fund. The province wanted to use part of the money to help transition lost workers. CETA will nullify sub-national policy. Newfoundland and Labrador’s — Minimal Processing Requirements (MPR) — provincial rules to ensure that a percentage of fish from coastal waters is processed by local workers will be trumped by trade laws. 

Newfoundland is not alone. In 2013 and 2014, Toronto requested the federal and provincial government exclude them because of restrictions imposed on essentials like local food networks. Toronto is unwilling to relinquish job creation initiatives. Some transit vehicles are sourced in the region on purpose. Though more expensive to set up locally, in the end, the jobs created boost Toronto’s economy and community well-being. 

It’s not just the new CETA restrictions, it’s the severity of their enforcement under ISDS. If ignored, the government opens itself to lawsuits from transnational corporations. In this historical moment of developing the long-term rules of relationship between the EU and North America, instead of giving special legal rights to corporations for accessing contracts in our cities, we could rewrite procurement to explicitly protect local decision-making for jobs, environmental protections and social well-being. We could set a precedent for the security of the whole globe by removing ISDS from the CETA; this may be what Germany and France are now pushing for. Forget minimum standards of treatment for a corporation. Appropriate trade would set enforceable standards of treatment for people in Newfoundland and beyond. 

Some sub-national governments are looking at the implications on communities in the future under these multi-decade treaties. It’s time the rest put on their spectacles. We need to source and build locally for jobs, for the climate, for our well-being. A legal system that battles for the rights of corporations to make profit has no business interfering with the ancient exchange of local goods and services. Who next is willing to stand up for local buying, building and being? 

Jennifer Chesnut

Trade Justice London 
London, Ontario Chapter
Council of Canadians

Originally published in:

http://newgenerationtrade.com/2015/01/25/the-call-for-economic-justice-gets-louder-nfld-labrador-joins-canadian-cities-blocking-the-ceta-lawsuit-deal/

Further Reading:
http://www.canadians.org/blog/ceta-appears-wobbly-provincial-dispute-isds-lurks-horizon

CINEMA POLITICA presents VISIONS OF ABOLITION: 6:30 pm, Monday Jan. 9, 2015

VISIONS OF ABOLITION: 
From Critical Resistance to a New Way of Life

6:30 pm, Monday January 9, 2015

Stevenson and Hunt Room 
London Public Library 

Timed to tie in with the Prisoners' Justice Film Festival, our co-sponsor for this film. 

Giselle Dias, who heads the PJFF, will speak and moderate Q and A.

Doors open 6:00 pm for set-up 

After introductory remarks, the film will start at 7:00 sharp.

Late comers please enter through the door at the back of the room. 

Everyone is welcome! 

This is a FREE event offered by Cinema Politica in parternership with the London Public Library.

FRAGRANCE FREE EVENT! Please be respectful of attendees who have serious allergies! 

Organized by the Solidarity Film Coalition under the auspices of the London Chapter of the Council of Canadians.

Cosponsored by the London Public Library, the Prisoner's Justice Film Festival, L.A.C.A.S.A. and Seeds of Hope, 

Details: 

http://www.cinemapolitica.org/london 

Visions of Abolition is a feature length documentary about the prison industrial complex and the prison abolition movement. 

Part I 
“Breaking down the Prison Industrial Complex” weaves together the voices of women caught in the criminal justice system, and leading scholars of prison abolition, examining the racial and gendered violence of the prison system. Our film features the work of Susan Burton, a formerly incarcerated mother who established A New Way of Life, a group of transition homes for women coming home from prison in South Los Angeles (39 mins). 

Part II 
“Abolition: Past Present and Future,” documents the recent history of the prison abolition movement through the organizing efforts of Critical Resistance and explores the meaning of abolitionist politics. By focusing on the collaboration between Critical Resistance and A New Way of Life, (known as the L.E.A.D. Project) the second half of the film unfolds a vision of abolition in practice (48 mins). 

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

‘Visions of Abolition’ documentary linked to Ontario migrant detentions and crisis at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre In conjunction with the London Public Library (londonpubliclibrary.ca), Cinema Politica London (cinemapolitica.org/london) presents the documentary film Visions of Abolition on Monday February 9, 2015 starting at 7 pm, in the Stevenson and Hunt Room, London Public Library, 251 Dundas St. 

“The reality is that colonialism and racism are still inextricably linked to higher incarceration rates of Indigenous people and People of Colour,” says Giselle Dias of the Prison Justice Film Festival. In the trailer (www.visionsofabolition.org/trailer.html), Angela Davis makes the connections between slavery, indentured servitude, and prisons. “Canadians must also see the links to the over-incarceration rates of Indigenous people to on-going colonization (reserves, residential schools, 1960's scoop and now prisons).” continues Dias. “Our jails (including the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre outside London) are over-crowded and therefore dangerous because we continue to over-incarcerate people with mental health issues, homeless people, poor people, immigrants and refugees and other marginalized populations. We must start putting resources into housing, mental health services, harm reduction, addressing poverty and most importantly stop considering prisons a solution to social problems.” 

Visions of Abolition is a new feature length documentary about the prison industrial complex and the prison abolition movement, in two parts. 

Part I “Breaking down the Prison Industrial Complex” weaves together the voices of women caught in the criminal justice system, and leading scholars of prison abolition, examining the racial and gendered violence of the prison system. Features the work of Susan Burton, a formerly incarcerated mother who established A New Way of Life, a group of transition homes for women coming home from prison in South Los Angeles. 

Part II “Abolition: Past Present and Future,” documents the recent history of the prison abolition movement through the organizing efforts of Critical Resistance and explores the meaning of abolitionist politics. By focusing on the collaboration between Critical Resistance and A New Way of Life, (known as the L.E.A.D. Project) the second half of the film unfolds a vision of abolition in practice. 

Co-sponsored by the Prisoners' Justice Film Festival (prisonjusticefilm.wordpress.com). 

Giselle Dias of the PJFF will be present for a brief moderated Question and Answer session after the film. 

Join us to learn and discuss how our societies could look without prisons, and how communities can resist the Prison Industrial Complex. 

Visions of Abolition will screen in the Stevenson-Hunt rooms (opposite Wolf Hall), London Public Library, 251 Dundas St. 

Doors open at 6:30 pm on Monday February 9. 

Part of a monthly series of screenings by Cinema Politica London in partnership with the London Public Library (see www.cinemapolitica.org/london for details). For information about these screenings, please contact london@cinemapolitica.org or David Heap (djheap@uwo.ca or 519 859 3579). 

For the Prison Justice Film Festival, please contact Giselle Dias (519-282-9291). 

Doors open 6:00 pm for set-up. After introductory remarks, the film will start at 7:00 sharp. Late comers please enter through the door at the back of the room. Everyone is welcome! This is a FREE event offered by Cinema Politica in partnership with the London Public Library. FRAGRANCE FREE EVENT! Please be respectful of attendees who have serious allergies! This film event is free of charge and accessible. 

Underground parking (two hours free) can be validated at the Central Library welcome desk while it is open.

CINEMA POLITICA presents "THE BIG SELLOUT"

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE* 

‘The Big Sellout’ film mirrored locally in health care privatization by stealth 

Monday December 15 at 7 pm. Central Branch, London Public Library, 251 Dundas St. 

In conjunction with the London Public Library (http://londonpubliclibrary.ca), Cinema Politica London (http://cinemapolitica.org/london) presents the documentary film The Big Sellout. 

“Modern warfare has tried to dehumanize people, to take out the sympathetic element. When you drop bombs from 50,000 feet, you don’t see who they’re landing on, you don’t see the damage. It’s the same thing in economics when you talk about statistics and don’t think about the people that lie behind those statistics.” Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize Winner, former World Bank Chief Economist in The Big Sellout 

The Big Sellout shows us the human faces behind economic policies, how ordinary people can fight the commodification of basic public services. It tells true stories, from Philippines to South Africa, from Bolivia to England, about the human costs of economic policies obsessed with ‘efficiency’ and economic growth. The film raises serious questions about the role of governments in serving corporate interests instead of public benefit. “These stories may seem distant and removed from local circumstances, but all the same key ingredients are present in Ontario,” says Peter Bergamis of the London Health Coalition. “Londoners and other Canadians are victims of the same toxic myth-driven policies of financial elites. Universal public health care is maligned and misrepresented as unsustainable or inefficient. In the name of austerity, our government plans to continue eviscerating hospital services.” 

Just as importantly, The Big Sellout also showcases ordinary people who stand up and demand alternatives to neo-liberal economic policies, a model shown to be as hollow as it is unsustainable. Bergamis argues that we urgently need the same kind of resistance here in Ontario, where the provincial government is already systematically closing down outpatient services such as physiotherapy, labs, pain clinics, fertility clinics and more. “Their written plan is to close all outpatient services. As many surgeries and diagnostic tests as can be stripped from local public hospitals without public scrutiny, are slated to be contracted out to private (for-profit) clinics, “ he continues. “This is a wholesale assault on our values as Canadian citizens and must be resisted or else Medicare will vanish from our social fabric.” 

Join us to learn vital lessons about how we can and must resist the current assault on healthcare and other public services. The Big Sellout screens in the Stevenson-Hunt rooms (opposite Wolf Hall), London Public Library, 251 Dundas St. Doors open at 6:30pm on Monday December 15. This film event is free of charge and accessible. Underground parking (two hours free) can be validated at the Central Library welcome desk. 

Part of a monthly series of screenings by Cinema Politica London in partnership with the London Public Library (see www.cinemapolitica.org/london for details). For information about these screenings, please contact london@cinemapolitica.org or David Heap (djheap@uwo.ca or 519 859 3579). For the London Health Coalition, please contact Jeff Hanks (jeffryhanks@gmail.com or 226 448 3607) or Peter Bergmanis (Peter.Bergmanis@sjhc.london.on.ca or 519-860-4403). 

After introductory remarks, the film will start at 7:00 sharp. Late comers please enter through the door at the back of the room. Everyone is welcome! This is a FREE event offered by Cinema Politica in parternership with the London Public Library. FRAGRANCE FREE EVENT! Please be respectful of attendees who have serious allergies!

London chapter supports Unifor rally in defence of public health care

Photo courtesy of Kevin Jones

The London chapter of the Council of Canadians joined a Unifor protest yesterday in defence of public health care. The rally began in Victoria Park and then moved to the offices of London North Centre MPP Deb Matthews and London North Centre MP Susan Truppe. 

CTV reports, "Health care workers rallied in Victoria Park Thursday, and the Unifor members say if something isn't done to fix the health care system, more at-risk people will fall through the cracks. The union says that health care will be underfunded nationally by about $36 billion over the next 10 years, and many are concerned for the future. ...Unifor says the federal government refuses to discuss a new Canada Health Accord - the blueprint for federal contributions to provincial health care - and believe it is part of an effort to increase privatized health care." 

The London Free Press adds, "Unifor is reminding MPP and Liberal cabinet minister Deb Matthews [she's the president of the Treasury Board] to respect bargaining rights for Ontario health-care workers. Conservative MP Susan Truppe is being urged to support renewing and re-signing the Canada health accord which expired earlier this year." 

And the London Community News notes, "Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union with more than 305,000 members, launched rallies in several Ontario cities on Nov. 6, including Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and London. Organizers said some 15 buses brought in union members and their supporters from across the province to the London rally where about 500 people gathered in Victoria Park." 

15,000 Unifor health care workers are set to negotiate new contracts this year. Many of them coming off a two-year wage freeze and are having additional responsibilities placed on them. As CTV notes, "[Unifor] members say that along with seniors, [long term care] facilities are now also taking on assisted living patients and some with mental health issues. They say meeting all the varying demands is taking a toll." 

Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow also tweeted this 3-minute video from yesterday's protest in London. 

Photo: London chapter activists at yesterday's rally. Photo by Kevin Jones. Photo: Fred Wilson marches for public health care. Photo by Bill O'Neill.

Brent Patterson
Political Director
Council of Canadians

Originally published as
http://canadians.org/blog/london-chapter-supports-unifor-rally-defence-public-health-care

SUPER IMPORTANT Meeting - Thursday, Nov. 6, 6:30 pm, Landon Library

Regarding: 

GET ON THE BUS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH CARE! 

RALLY 

NOVEMBER 21, 2014 at 12 noon QUEENS PARK 

Peter 519-455-3430 (or email pbergmanis@rogers.com) TO RESERVE A SEAT 

IT'S OUR PUBIC HEALTH CARE MAKE IT BETTER! DON’T KILL IT! 

The threat to Medicare in Ontario from private clinics, which would create a two tiered health care system, is very, very real. This is not something we can hope will go away. Last Spring many of us worked hard on the Save Our Services referendum. The postcards collected voted overwhelmingly for not only saving Medicare, but putting more resources into it to make it better. 

A chartered bus is going from London on Friday, November 21 to Queens Park to join in a massive protest against austerity and the gradual killing of socialized medicine in Ontario. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------

SUPER IMPORTANT LONDON COUNCIL OF CANADIANS MEETING 

THURSDAY, NOV. 6, 2014, LANDON LIBRARY, 167 WORTLEY RD. 

Martha Bishop Room

6:30 - snacks and social 

7:00 - SPEAKER: Peter Bergmanus (London Health Coalition) 
"THE SEIGE ON MEDICARE AND WHY WE MUST FIGHT FOR IT OR LOSE IT" 
Questions and discussion 

7:30 - Sign up to go on the chartered bus to Queens Park for the noon rally on Nov. 21. leaving 8:30 am - returning 7:00 pm 

7:30 - 8:45 pm WORKSHOP TO MAKE WHIMSICAL MUSICAL, PERCUSSION, AND NOISE EMITTING INSTRUMENTS TO USE FOR NOV. 21 RALLY 

Twiddle tum tooters… floogleflonkers….snarfblatters…. Please bring funnels, pots, wire, kazoos, garbage can lids, 5 gallon plastic pickle jars, plastic kitty litter containers, bells, whistles, kitchen gadgets etc. etc. etc. Anything that can make a loud noise. Share PVC pipe, fabric, ribbons. Use your imagination and have fun! 

We will use our props and wear costumes for a photo op in front of St Joe’s (corner of Richmond and Grosvenor) in London at 4:30 pm on Thursday, Nov. 13. 

fragrance free event free to the public 

info: Roberta 519-601-2053

Minutes of our last meeting on Oct. 9:

http://londoncouncilofcanadians.ca/LondonCoCMeetingMinutes.pdf

Trade Justice Workshop: FIPA and CETA

Workshop on the FIPA and CETA: International laws created for corporations. 

"Trade is the transfer of power from citizens to corporations." Maude Barlow, Chair of the Council of Canadians 

 This workshop, given by our Trade Justice Chair, Jennifer Chesnut, will explore new generation trade pacts, the CETA and the Can-China FIPA, their purposes and consequences. We will map similarities between these deals and what they mean for the new frontier of international laws benefiting corporations. Special emphasis on Investor State Lawsuits and strategies for creating trade justice. 

 What do you think fair trade looks like? 

 Wed. Oct. 29/2014 @ 5pm EVAC, 757 Dundas St.

CETA: One-Stop Shopping for Corporations

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a quintessential “new generation” trade pact. Its purpose is to open trade to areas that are managed by government at the provincial and municipal levels. Large European corporations will be able to use their trade legal “favoured nation status” to have equal access to municipal and provincial contracts on things like city energy management. After many calls to make this deal public, on September 26, 2014, the EU disclosed the massive finished document on their website. Critics are upset about the diminishmed capacity of city councils to control assets and local jobs, purchase locally, and create future policy for sustainability. There are many other questions over eighty municipal councils, associations and school boards have expressed about the CETA in resolutions to provincial and federal government. Over fifty of them have asked to be exempted from the CETA. 

These exemption requests from Victoria to Toronto make up the only movement of one level of government against another in Canada since we started using free trade to change national policy in 1989. Maybe the over fifty councils, school boards and associations do not want to be involved at all because they were not allowed to see the details. Or maybe because Canada is offering the EU a one-stop-shop website where foreign corporations will be able to see what contracts are open for them to bid from coast to coast. For more info on the one-stop-shop site see the EU’s trade portal: 

http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/ceta/index_en.htm#outcome 

“With CETA, EU companies will be able to bid for public contracts in Canada…This includes the provincial authorities, (and) in 2011 procurements by Canadian municipalities were estimated at C$ 112 billion (approx. €82 billion)…European businesses will be the first foreign companies to get that level of access to Canadian public procurement markets. No other international agreement concluded by Canada offers similar opportunities…Canada will also create a single electronic procurement website that combines information on all tenders to ensure that the EU companies can effectively take advantage of these new opportunities.“

Jennifer Chesnut
Trade Justice Chair

Originally published on October 20, 2014 at
http://newgenerationtrade.com/2014/10/20/ceta-one-stop-shopping-for-corporations/

I’ve been thinking about how corporations are suing countries.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about transnational corporations suing countries. The fancy name for this is Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and it happens in free trade. ISDS is on my mind a whole bunch as Germany speaks out about the inclusion of ISDS in the soon to be announced CAN-EU CETA deal.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/campact/sets/72157647398779707/ 

ISDS was first employed in NAFTA , the North American Free Trade Agreement. Some say this deal, circa 1994, was the first New Generation deal partly because of its use of Investor State. ISDS is a trade legal mechanism for how the pacts are enforced. It affords corporations the opportunity to sue nation states if the profits they expected from the opening of specific sectors in a free trade deal are diminished because the country has laws or policies that prevent earnings. Ethyl Corporation was the first to successfully sue Canada in the mid nineties, for approximately 16 million, when Canada attempted to bar its gasoline additives. Researchers in Canada believed their additives could be carcinogenic. Ethyl won on the grounds that profits expected as a result of NAFTA were lost. There have been hundreds of cases administered through trade tribunals since and the number of cases launched is on the incline every year. Through leaked texts in German news and other places, critics of CETA have said that corporations will be able to sue countries when municipalities use public money for various buy-local initiatives, municipal procurement, and protection of local public management, but no ones knows for certain as the text has not been shared publicly. 

Let’s talk trade that works. Opening borders to gastronomic delights! to expertise in regions that most benefit! How about encouraging the growth of sale in specialty items (like fair trade bananas) that could give economic stability to a struggling country? But when you get into lawsuits waged in a one way direction from corporations to countries, it feels like we are no longer talking about trade. The conversations turns a whole lotta dark. People don’t like it. Investor State creates an Investor’s State superimposed on a Nation State. This is the kind of trade that makes people uncomfortable. It’s the kind of design that will sink itself. 

People from Canada, Germany, France, and many other locales in between are bidding Investor State Adieu. Adios. Au Revoir. 

We are entering a new era — one of critical trade justice understanding that will not tolerate excessive corporate rights at the expense of family and community well being — whether or not we call them new generation free trade, CETA, or we@#$@#lkflskdjfls investor state ding-a-ling.

Jennifer Chesnut 
Trade Justice Chair

Originally published on September 21, 2014 at
http://newgenerationtrade.com/2014/09/21/ive-been-thinking-about-corporations-sueing-countries/

A People's Ceremony to Honour the 50+ Municipalities, School Boards and Associations Requested to Be Excluded from the CETA

No to CETA! No to Investor State! 

A Big Yes to Fair Trade!

London marked the CETA completion with their own ceremony. The Council of Canadians London Chapter hosted a rally outside city hall on Thursday, September 25th at 4:30 pm to share the historic resistance of the grassroots to the CETA. With about 50 people overall, the chapter enacted a ceremony to honour municipal councils who for the first time rejected a trade pact.

London Chapter representatives, Jennifer Chesnut and Aldous Smith, gave opening remarks about this municipal trade deal and Investor State. London Chapter justice folk singer, Margo Does debuted "The CETA Song". The chapter chair, Roberta Cory, ran work parties to create the many signs, including a sign for every municipal entity that requested an opt out. Chapter members Julie Picken-Cooper and Jessie Chesnut along with other supporters led the ceremony to recognize the municipalities requesting to be excluded from the CETA.

The National Council of Canadian's CETA google map was used to collect the data. 

Excerpts:

"We come together today on the eve before the official announcement of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement to bear witness. We stand outside city hall in recognition of the municipal movement critiquing CETA that included more than eighty resolutions passed by municipalities, school boards and associations. We gather today to thank the many great city councillors in Thunder Bay, Hamilton, North Vancouver, Essex County, Toronto, and so many others who stood up to this deal to protect local choices, local jobs, and the well-being of families. Of those many, over fifty requested to be excluded from the CETA. None of these requests have been publicly acknowledged and debated. We will acknowledge them together today."

"We stand in solidarity with the Ottawa people’s response tomorrow under the tagline “The text might be finished but the fight is just beginning”. Organized by the Canadian Maritime and Supply Chain Coalition with support from the Trade Justice Network, the Quebec Network on Continental Integration (RQIC), and Campact Germany, we stand in solidarity with you."

The event was reported by local indie media here:

https://www.facebook.com/theindignants

https://www.facebook.com/events/1470686059864734/

Picture Credits: 
1. In blog body photo, Mike Roy of The Indignants; 
2,3,4. Kevin Jones



-- Jennifer Chesnut
          Trade Justice Chair, London CoC

Announcement of the rally:

http://londoncouncilofcanadians.blogspot.ca/2014/09/london-rally-on-eve-of-ceta-ceremony.html

London RALLY on the Eve of the CETA Ceremony!

We Stand on Guard for Canadian Cities!

No to CETA!
No to Investor-State!
And a Big Yes to Fair Trade!

The world famous CETApus of London, Ontario, 2011.

On Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014, at 4:30 pm, outside London City Hall, you are invited to take a stand for Canadian cities. Together we will mark the historic resistance to the CETA trade pact by city councils from Victoria to Thunder Bay to Toronto. These municipal governments, along with dozens of others, including London, represent the first ever cross-country resistance to a corporate trade pact. The CETA gives corporations the right to directly sue governments if new laws or regulations impact their profits. It also removes the right of municipalities to govern local assets publicly, in favour of privatization and foreign corporate management.

Together we will acknowledge London city council, which passed two resolutions to be excluded from the CETA, for which it has received no reply from either the federal or provincial governments. This gathering will also bear witness to the official announcement, on Friday, Sept. 26th in Ottawa, that negotiations for the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement are complete. In reality, while the agreement is nearing completion, the CETA still needs to be ratified, a process which could take up to two years.

Following the announcement, the CETA cannot be changed. But it can be rejected!

Thursday, September 25

4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Outside City Hall (300 Dufferin Avenue, London ON) 

Hosted by Council of Canadians, London Chapter 

More info: www.canadians.org/trade 

Local contacts:

Aldous Smith         tradejusticelondon@gmail.com 
Jennifer Chesnut   jennifer.reanne@gmail.com 

Come together, connect, and thank Canadian city councillors for standing up to protect families and democratic process.

Bring your voices, ears for listening, and determination for democracy. Stand tall together, knowing we are on the right side of history. No to CETA and Investor State! Yes to Fair Trade!

CINEMA POLITICA LONDON REVIVED! TODAY!

Cinema Politica London is happy to be back under new management after a two year hiatus! It is now being run by the Solidarity Film Coalition, a committee of the London Chapter of the Council of Canadians. Co-sponsors include L.A.C.A.S.A. (Latin American Canadian Solidarity Association), the London Public Library, and Seeds of Hope. Our kick-off film is, appropriately, "We Are Wisconsin", a rousing cheer leading inspiration to action for grassroots movements! It is guaranteed to knock your socks off! 

TODAY! Monday Sept. 8, 2014 at 7 pm in Stevenson & Hunt Room, London Public Library, 251 Dundas St.

All of our showings are free of charge, but we do welcome donations any time.

http://www.cinemapolitica.org/london

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 is 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 “free trade agreements” presently being negotiated by Canada and the U.S. with the European Union, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. 

In Canada our Finance Department has assured us that our deposits remain safely protected by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation. But in fact the CDIC (as of April 30, 2013) had only $2.6 billion to insure $665 billion of deposits in Canadian banks. The situation in the U.S. is similar, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation having about $28 billion available to insure between six and seven trillion dollars of deposits. Paltry protection from a major meltdown like that of 2008. Moreover, we also have uninsured assets entrusted to banks, including insurance and pensions. These also are vulnerable to bail-in procedures. 

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. Another version of the bail-in process is the raiding of pension funds of workers in order to pay off the big lenders. This is occurring now in some of our cities. 

The danger from bail-ins will be especially high as long as the US government remains on the verge of defaulting on its debts. Although the October 17 default has been avoided, if a default should occur, 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 type of peril in the short run, the threat to our financial welfare from the banks' speculative excesses remains imminent. 

Ultimately it will require persistent political action to eliminate the grossly unjust bail-in threat—e.g., outlawing bail-ins altogether, imposing a financial transactions tax, restoring the Glass-Steagall Act (which separated investment banking—mostly derivatives gambling now—from depository banking and insurance). The movement to develop public banking, including establishment of postal savings banks in which depositors' funds would be completely safe, needs strong public support. 

The bail-in threat is a new development of which hardly anyone is aware. And that is the big problem. We have become so accustomed to trusting banks to keep our financial resources safe that it is hard to believe the bail-in threat could be real or imminent. Of course there is no way of knowing how great the danger is. But this new situation certainly gives reason for concern. What precautions might we take to protect ourselves and the institutions we value? We all need to be seeking alternatives to the mainline banks that we can no longer trust. In the absence of public banks and local currencies, and short of storing cash under our mattresses, it may be possible for us individuals and institutions to find safe haven at least for some of our 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 
georgecrowell@rogers.com

Water Rights Film Festival! by Jennifer Chesnut

A film festival about water rights in Canada and around the world. 

What needs to be done to minimize future water loss for the next generation? 

From Friday April 4th through Sunday April 6th at Museum London, the Water Rights Film Festival comes to London. Created by the Solidarity Film Coalition with numerous sponsors like Museum London, The Council of Canadians, and LACASA, this is an opportunity for people to check out some interesting facts about the substance that makes up three quarters of this blue planet, and sustains all our lives. 

Learn about the impact of our water use on the next generation, transnational corporate influence on water bodies, the 2012 elimination of 99% of rules protecting Canadian rivers and lakes, successful community activities to protect water, and more. 

Feature Films include: Blue Gold, Waterlife, Bottled Life; Sacred Spirit of Water. 

Highlights: 

Friday evening, Josephine Mandamin, Anishinabe elder, will speak the aboriginal perspective on water, sharing stories from her experience being the Great Lakes Water Walker. The feature film will be Blue Gold. 

Saturday morning at 11 a.m., in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Club, all are invited to a community water walk at the Forks of the Thames. Following the walk, there will be animated shorts on water inside the Museum’s cinema. At 1 p.m., the full feature documentary program will resume with Waterlife. Mike Nagy, president of Water Watchers, will speak about Nestlé’s involvement in the Guelph area watershed. 

Sunday afternoon, Juan Sanchez, editor of Indigenous Message on Water, will share water poetry. Both the films Bottled Life and Sacred Spirit of Water will be shown. 

The Water Rights film festival is open to all for learning more about the force that constitutes eighty percent of our bodies, and holds all life in its flow! Admission is free. 

In order to protect water for the next generation, we must learn how we are changing it, and change the way we perceive it. 

Expect excellent films, speakers, poems, and a walk for water! Come for part or all of the weekend. Bring a water-loving buddy. 

For more information: 

http://waterrightsfilmfestival.wordpress.com/

solidarityfilmcoalition@outlook.com 

(originally published in London Fuse: http://londonfuse.ca/event/water-rights-film-festival)

03/31/15

For Immediate Release:

Water at Risk:

A documentary tour of the Great Lakes and beyond with a Thames River walk and the legendary Water Walker

From Friday, April 4th through Sunday, April 6th at Museum London, the Water Rights Film Festival ripples through London, Ontario. This free festival highlights issues related to water in Canada and around the world.  Emphasis will be placed on emerging risks to the Great Lakes. Special guest, the legendary Anishinabe elder and Water Walker, Josephine Mandamin, has walked the perimeter of all five lakes since 2003 “to raise awareness that our clean and clear water is being polluted by chemicals, vehicle emissions, motor boats, sewage disposal, agricultural pollution, leaking landfill sites, and residential usage.” Including a community water walk on Saturday morning, 11 AM, at the Fork of the Thames, this free public event is an opportunity to learn about the substance that makes up nearly three quarters of this blue planet. Created by the Solidarity Film Coalition with numerous sponsors such as Museum London, The Council of Canadians, Seeds of Hope, and LACASA, one organizer, Roberta Cory says, “In order to protect water for the next generation, we must learn how we are changing it, and change the way we perceive it.” 

Friday evening, Mandamin will speak the aboriginal perspective on water. Saturday morning at 11am, in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Club, all are invited to a community water walk at the Forks of the Thames. Following the walk, there will be animated shorts on water inside the Museum’s cinema. Mike Nagy, president of Water Watchers, will speak about Nestle’s involvement in the Guelph area watershed. Sunday afternoon, Juan Sanchez, editor of Indigenous Message on Water, will share poetry to help people “remember the sacred nature of Water”. Feature films shown throughout the weekend include: Blue Gold, Waterlife, Bottled Life and the Sacred Spirit of Water.

The Water Rights film festival not only includes films but is a multi-faceted event open to the public to learn more about the force that constitutes eighty percent of our bodies and holds all life in its flow! Some questions that will be investigated are: What impacts are water corporations, like Nestle in Guelph Ontario, having on the Great Lakes watershed? What can we expect from the 2012 elimination of 99% of rules protecting Canadian rivers and lakes? How can we protect the Great Lakes for future generations?

All are invited to meet experts from across the province, participate in a guided walk around the Thames, listen to water poetry from an indigenous perspective, and view excellent films at the Water Rights Film Festival.

#######

For more information:

http://waterrightsfilmfestival.wordpress.com/

Roberta Cory:  robertacory@rogers.com, (519) 601-2053

Paula Papel: solidarityfilmcoalition@outlook.com , (519) 697-9252

Water Rights Film Festival

Water Rights Film Festival coming in April! April 4-6, 2014, Museum London, London, ON; more details will be provided soon!