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A warning to Canadians about the Trans Pacific Partnership

Our Trade Minister, Ed Fast, has just flown to Atlanta, Georgia with the goal of completing secret negotiations with all 12 countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): the biggest and most secretive agreement in the history of the world.

We know that the Conservative government hopes to lock us into this binding agreement before we can vote in the upcoming election, so we need to take the opportunity now to make as much noise as possible. Can you help us draw a TPP-sized line in the sand?

Make sure Minister Ed Fast hears our call: do not overwrite our laws and censor the Internet.

Canadians are sick of being kept in the dark about the TPP. And what little we do know about this plan comes from leaked documents.² Here are some of the worst parts:

• The binding plan will make our Internet more censored, expensive, and policed on a global scale³
• It gives the U.S. Trade Representative special powers to challenge any Canadian laws they deem unacceptable through the so-called ‘certification’ process⁴
• Over 600 lobbyists have had full access to the text, but not even our opposition parties are allowed to see it.

No more stalling: it’s time for all of our leaders to come clean on the TPP. We deserve to know what kind of decisions will be made on our behalf, BEFORE we go to the polls.

Finally, here’s the icing on the cake: parties negotiating the TPP have just appointed a “transparency officer”. His name is Tim Reif, he’s a long-time TPP bureaucrat and USTR lawyer.⁶ We like to call him “Transparency Tim.”

If Transparency Tim and the TPP Ministers are serious about transparency, then they’ll show us the text – not ram this deal through without our consent. That means we need you to send “Transparency Tim” and Minister Ed Fast a message today.

October 5, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ACTION