------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 14:21:50 -0500
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Bob Olsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Canadians Fear MAI (5 Feb 98)
TORONTO STAR..... February 5, 1998 The Toronto Star
By Rosemary Speirs - National Affairs
Voters' fears over world investment pact
worries Liberals
OTTAWA - JEAN CHRTIEN'S Liberals are
concerned about public fears over the
Multilateral Agreement on Investment, and
will take a second look at this 29-nation
trade deal they were originally so keen to
sign.
The Star has learned that some top Liberal
party advisers to the Prime Minister are
warning that Canadians are becoming leery
of the globalization trend. Ordinary
citizens forgave the Liberals in the last
election for having flip-flopped on free
trade by signing the North American trade
deal with the United States and Mexico.
But now, according to the party's inside
polls, people are wondering whether things
are going too far.
Few Canadians know much about the proposed
investment deal, beyond the Canadian
nationalists' charge that Canadian
sovereignty is somehow at stake behind the
closed doors in Paris. It's been a sleeper
issue, something people were vaguely
uneasy about.
But now, the Royal Bank and the Bank of
Montreal have announced they want to merge
into a global bank, able to take the lead
on international mega-deals, but with a
price at home of as many as 9,200 bank
jobs. The proposed merger, while not
directly connected to the MAI, is
heightening peoples' doubts about dropping
any more of the rules that protect sectors
of the Canadian economy.
``We really have to assess the MAI very
carefully in terms of public opinion
now,'' says a key Liberal adviser.
What worries the Liberals is that voters
will make the connection between global
free trade and increasing disparities at
home. Although the proponents of freer
trade argue the NAFTA has been a great
success, as evidenced by a huge increase
in Canadian exports, Canada's unemployment
rate remains twice as high as in the
United States, and real incomes have been
stagnant.
Even within the Liberal party, there are
signs of incipient revolt against the MAI.
On Tuesday, Liberal MPs on the environment
committee questioned their own
government's commitment to environmental
standards as part of the deal.
The MAI would offer more security for
Canadian foreign investors when putting
their money into another country, ensuring
them equal treatment to domestic
investors. But the downside of that, say
the critics, is that Canada in turn would
have to lower barriers to the entry of
foreign multi-nationals to our markets.
They argue the feds would lose their
authority to screen foreign investments,
to ban foreign ownership of our banks,
crown corporations or hospitals, and they
fear our environmental and labour laws
could be challenged by foreign investors
claiming they constitute unfair trade
barriers.
Trade Minister Sergio Marchi has made a
commendable effort to be open about the
MAI, but within the constraints imposed by
secret negotiations. This week, he
suggested the deadline of April 27, when
the MAI is supposed to be signed, may have
to be extended. He's not the first to
indicate trouble in the talks. European
Union Trade Commissioner Leon Brittan and
U.S. Trade representative Charlene
Barshefsky have spoken publicly about
their doubts the pact will conclude
successfully.
The hitch is the insistence by several
countries that binding standards on labour
and environment be included in the pact.
Canada is soft on the binding standard
issue, but is demanding, like France, that
cultural industries be excluded
altogether. The U.S. has been refusing to
back off its legislation penalizing
companies that would trade with Cuba.
As the negotiations stall, Chretien and
Marchi are beginning to feel the pressure
of critics at home who want a tougher
Canadian position. Maude Barlow's Council
of Canadians has put together a coalition
of 30 labour and activist organizations
that are lobbying effectively against
signing the MAI. The government of British
Columbia has warned the province may
refuse to implement any MAI rules that
apply within its jurisdiction. Liberal MPs
at the party's caucus in Collingwood last
week asked for fuller briefings so they
can get up to speed.
When the Liberal party holds its annual
meeting in March, anxiety about what the
MAI really means will get an airing. The
Ontario and Quebec wings have submitted
convention resolutions. Ontario's
resolution demands that Canada's health
and social standards and culture be
protected from the MAI. The Quebec
resolution, passed at a Quebec Liberal
meeting in December, urges Marchi not to
sign unless he achieves a strong cultural
exemption for government regulations
``whose objective is to protect and assert
culture, the arts, heritage and linguistic
diversity.''
``The people at the microphones were
pretty firm on that,'' says Serge Joyal,
the Quebec Liberal senator who chaired the
policy meeting.
The government is thinking it over.
-------------------
Contents copyright c 1996-1998,
The Toronto Star
................
The URL for this news report will be generated on February 6, 1998
when it is posted to: http://www.thestar.com/thestar/back_issues/index.html
Bob Olsen Toronto [EMAIL PROTECTED] (:-)
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