Last month I wrote about our prime minister giving citizens the opportunity to express their opinions about the impending TPP trade pact. Maude Barlow and the super patriots of the Council of Canadians were pleased, but they wanted parliamentary consideration of the pact postponed for a longer period. They bombarded the PM with petitions and rejoiced when action on the TPP was deferred until October. I don’t think the Council of Canadians forced Justin Trudeau’s hand and I don’t think he was grandstanding by being magnanimous.
Justin Trudeau is not merely a poster boy with charming manners. Contrary to what his opponents believe and their lapdogs in editorial offices proclaim, the man has a good brain. His good brain told him action on the TPP should be deferred until closer to the November presidential elections. On one side is Donald Trump, who would trash existing trade pacts and refuse to give considerations to those that are pending. On the other side is the influence of Bernie Sanders, who wants to see the flaws in all of them incised. Either way, trade deals involving the United States are threatened.
I doubt that theatrical Trump could read and understand the text of any international trade deal. I also doubt most of the people sitting in the Canadian Parliament (and who can read) have ever waded through the turgid prose of the TPP, CETA or even NAFTA. The words to all of these unholy bibles were put together by faceless little elves who dwell around the seats of the mighty.
When it seemed obvious the TPP was on shaky ground, Justin Trudeau went to Japan. Not everything that was said there is public knowledge, but it is a safe bet there was a meeting of the minds between Trudeau and Japanese leaders involving the automobile industry. It was the beginning of a one-on-one relationship. Canada will not have to stand in line for a trade deal with Japan if the TPP is stillborn. That wasn’t poster-boy politics. That was smart.
I haven’t read the text of any trade pacts, either. I know of one flaw in all of them. Transnational corporations are given the right to sue any government that, in the interest of its citizens, passes legislation that impinges on the profitability of their operations. This mandate gives the corporation power to sue a foreign government for passing the same restrictive legislation that is being enforced in the corporation’s home country. This is plainly wrong. It doesn’t take a genius to see it. Corporations are being treated like sovereign nations. In any treaty between nations, all agree to a limitation of sovereignty, but this limitation is too large and too greedy. A corporation is not a nation.
