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Trudeau still pushing TPP despite widespread opposition
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Many people
thought the Trans-Pacific Partnership would fall apart without the
U.S., but recent reports suggest the Canadian government is trying to
push the massive corporate rights deal forward anyway.
There are only a couple of weeks to stop this from happening.
Thousands of people across this country have called on Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau to reject the TPP. Thanks to Council of Canadians
supporters like you, and our chapter activists who are working in
communities across Canada, the International Trade Committee heard from
more than 60,000 Canadians – 95 per cent of whom oppose the TPP.
Even with widespread public opposition, and Foreign Affairs Minister
Chrystia Freeland indicating the TPP wouldn’t be politically viable
without the U.S., Prime Minister Trudeau hasn’t pulled Canada from the
deal. He refuses to say whether our trade negotiators are working with
Australia, New Zealand and Japan to somehow move the TPP forward.
François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s new international trade minister,
is heading to Chile March 14-15 with the other TPP countries, possibly
to try to salvage the TPP.
Prime Minister Trudeau must formally withdraw Canada from the TPP
immediately. There is no reason for the federal government to wait to
make a decision on an agreement that most analysts – and even his own
trade minister – say has collapsed, especially when so many Canadians
oppose it.
Have your say by
March 14! Send
a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Champagne and demand
that the Trudeau government withdraw from the TPP immediately.
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February 2017
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The Council of
Canadians operates with no corporate donations or government funding,
and always has. Our public advocacy work is proudly 100 per cent
independent and sustained by generous donations from people like you.
Like our Facebook
page!
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Ontario government wants to charge Nestlé just
one-twentieth of a penny
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You have 20 days
to help protect water in Ontario from Nestlé’s massive bottling plans.
On January 18, the Ontario government announced it would raise the fees
that bottled water companies like Nestlé pay to pump out millions of
litres of groundwater every day. The new fee? One-twentieth of a penny
per litre!
This new fee is clearly not going to protect vulnerable groundwater
sources from being exploited and wasted as single use, disposable
bottled water.
That’s why we must tell the Wynne government to phase out bottled water
permits for good. Ontario communities shouldn’t have to wait in line
behind mega-corporations like Nestlé. Droughts due to climate change,
pollution and increased development are all putting our aquifers under
increased threat. Water must be kept in local watersheds for community
use and for future generations.
Have your say by
March 20! Send
a letter to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and call on the
provincial government to phase out bottled water permits for good.
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No backroom deal for NAFTA
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For years, we have
seen the ravages of NAFTA – Chapter 11 corporate lawsuits that have
cost Canada billions of dollars and eroded our environmental and public
policy, hollowed out manufacturing towns and hundreds of thousands of
people put out of work, and greater inequality in Canada, the U.S. and
Mexico. Now, President Trump has issued an executive order to
renegotiate NAFTA, making Canada’s trade relationship with the U.S.
even more uncertain.
The federal government should not be involved in any closed-door
negotiations that put the interests of corporations ahead of the
interests of people and the environment. Any NAFTA renegotiations must
eliminate Chapter 11, the investor-state dispute settlement process;
remove all references to water as a good, service or investment;
prioritize good jobs, democracy and the environment; and include full
public consultations.
Take action! Demand that the Canadian government ensure trade talks are
fair, open and transparent – all things the Liberals promised in the
last election.
Please
send your letter to Prime Minister Trudeau telling him it’s time
for a better NAFTA.
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Should your pension money build pipelines?
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Recent reports
have revealed that U.S.-based pipeline company Kinder Morgan is
approaching Canadian funders, including the Canada Pension Plan Investment
Board, to raise money to triple the capacity of the Trans Mountain
pipeline to 890,000 barrels a day. This would also quadruple the number
of supertankers in B.C’s Burrard Inlet each year. It would put
waterways and drinking water at incredible risk.
If you work or have worked in Canada, you are a contributor to the
Canada Pension Plan. You have a say in whether or not your pension
funds are used to pay for risky pipeline projects that fuel climate
change and endanger coastal waters.
Read
more and send a letter to stop your pension from building
pipelines!
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Welcome refugees – rescind the Safe Third Country
Agreement
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Refugees are
risking life and limb to get to Canada from the U.S. – all because of
an agreement that more than 200 Canadian law professors say should be
scrapped. Men, women and children are enduring long walks in freezing
temperatures to cross into Canada. They’re making these risky treks on
foot because the Safe Third Country Agreement would turn them away at
regular border crossings.
Asylum seekers who no longer feel safe in the U.S. and who are fleeing
violence and even death in their homelands come to Canada where many
are met at the border by RCMP officers. While the RCMP provides aid to
some, others – even children – are being handcuffed and detained. This
is not acceptable in a country that claims to welcome refugees.
Read
more and call on the federal government to scrap the Safe Third Country
Agreement now.
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Council of Canadians chapters push Trudeau on electoral
reform
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Council of
Canadians chapters across the country are speaking out against the
Trudeau government’s decision to abandon its promise of electoral
reform. During the last federal election, the Liberals promised that
the 2015 election would be the last held with the first-past-the-post
voting system and set a deadline of May 2017 to introduce legislation
on electoral reform. Now, just 15 months after the election, Trudeau
has abandoned that promise. Following the announcement, Council of
Canadians chapters in communities across Canada have held rallies,
written letters and handed out petitions and flyers to raise awareness
about the issue and to push the Trudeau government to overturn the
decision and keep its promise.
Read
more.
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Mark your calendars! Take action on March 22 for World
Water Day
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March 22 is
World Water Day and there are many ways you can take action for water
in your community! There are few things more important than clean, safe
water, but the lack of federal government legislation, damaging and
polluting industries, and water privatization efforts are putting water
sources at risk. Nestlé bottled water is an example of how corporate
greed is affecting groundwater sources. Every year, Nestlé makes
billions of dollars in profit by pumping water out of Ontario and
British Columbia, bottling it in single-use plastic bottles, and
selling it at an enormously inflated price. Now, tens of thousands of
Council of Canadians supporters are raising awareness about this issue
by signing
the Nestlé boycott pledge.
Read
more about how you can take action in your community on World Water
Day.
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