May 1, 2001
Kamloops Daily News


Now that the tear gas has cleared, and the anarchists and
the innocent bystanders have been released from prison, it's
a good time to reflect on just what happened 10 days ago in
Quebec city.  The leaders of 34 countries in this hemisphere
met for what was essentially a photo opportunity.  They
accomplished nothing, nor had they intended to -- the actual
Free Trade of the Americas Agreement is not to be signed
until 2005.

The anarchists also gathered for their photo opportunity and
the government obligingly provided the theatrical set: the
ugly fence that surrounded picturesque old Quebec city.  The
sight of bloodied anarchists fighting police dressed in
Darth Vader outfits made for great television.

What I found amazing was none of the above.  Rather, it was 
the 30,000 people that came from all over our hemisphere. 
They were labelled "protestors" by the government and
right-wing media.  They came with a more thoughtful purpose
than just to protest, but to provide an alternative view of
civil society.

Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians provided some of
that  insight when she said that the whole exercise was not
about free trade but about the strengthening of corporate
power.  If it was about free trade, there would more than
moving jobs to the cheapest labour markets.

Under true free trade, wages and environmental standards
would move along with the jobs.  Then Mexicans wouldn't be
working in slums under unsafe conditions.  But that's not
what's meant by "free trade". Corporations want to have the
power to move jobs in the blink of the eye, leaving dazed
workers wondering what hit them, and leaving new workers
grateful for pittance wages.

And what if free trade gave governments the power to sue
corporations?  The government could then sue corporations
like Ethyl Corp. for poisoning our environment with the
gasoline additive MMT, instead of the other way around.    

The faith of the government of Canada in free trade is
simplistic -- if we could just get more trade in goods,
everything else would follow.  Jobs, protection to the
environment, all flow from free trade in goods, so the
Liberal thinking goes.  Never mind that government is
diminished in the process.  Never mind that millions of
Canadians a disagree.

Prime Minister Chretien's faith in free trade amounts to an
kind of snake oil, a cure to what ails you.  This blissful
naivete reminds me of ex-president Ronald Regan's star wars
initiative, or his belief that tax reduction would increase
government revenue. 

Where is the official opposition to the Liberals, the
Canadian Alliance, when we need them?   They oppose
everything that the Liberals do and yet they are strangely
silent about the  Free Trade of the Americas.  

The Canadian Alliance should be representing the millions of
Canadians who are opposed the whole idea the proposed free
trade deal.  According to a recent poll commissioned by the
Council of Canadian Unity (not to be confused with the
Council of Canadians) 33 percent of Canadians oppose the
FTAA.

Ironically, one of the smallest opposition parties -- the
federal NDP -- is the only party objecting to so-called free
trade.  Alexa McDonough marched with the 30,000 peaceful
citizens of the hemisphere who have another view.  I'm glad
that to see the NDP starting to capture the conscience of
Canada again, even though they have a lot of catching up to
do with the Council of Canadians.

But why would the federal Liberals promote an agreement that
amounts to weakening of their own power?  Perhaps it's a
virus that they caught from Bloc Quebecois.  The goal of the
BQ is to self-destruct through the breakup of Canada.  The
Liberals are content in sitting back and giving the function
of government to corporations.   	

		*** 

Thanks to Tom Curry for pointing out an error in my
quotation of statistics in my last column.   Deteriorating
air quality in Ontario will cause an increase in premature
deaths from the current 1,200 per year (not per day) to
2,500 in less than twenty years.  Details can be found at
the Ontario Medical Association web site: www.oma.org

go back to my Columns in the