Elizabeth May underscores NAFTA protects corporate owners of capital, and not people

Special to The Canadian

	Quality-of-Living by Horace Carby-Samuels ISBN: 1897036353, 2006

KINGSTON – Green Party leader Elizabeth May says recent lawsuits filed against Canada under Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) illustrate very clearly that the agreement is detrimental to Canadian interests and must be renegotiated to protect people and the environment – not corporate profits.

"Few Canadians are aware that NAFTA rules allow corporations to sue governments for policies that harm their investments," says Ms. May. "U.S.-based Dow Chemicals filed a two million dollar notice of action against the federal government in August over Quebec's lawn pesticide ban. During the election campaign, we learned that a U.S. businessman is suing the government for disrupting his plans to establish for-profit healthcare facilities in Canada.

"That successive governments in this country can sit back and watch while corporations sue us is unimaginable. NAFTA allows foreign corporations to significantly infringe upon Canada's sovereignty and, as these and other lawsuits show, our public healthcare and capacity to protect the environment are under siege as a result of this flawed trade agreement.

"The Green Party believes that allowing foreign investors to sue Canada for protecting the public interest makes no sense. Safeguarding public health by banning lawn pesticides should not open Canada up to lawsuits from companies that seek to poison, pollute and profit while doing so. Neither is it right that our cherished public healthcare system is threatened by the desire for corporate profits.

SOCIALIZE: Stop the North American Union (NAU) agenda. Become a Member.

Subscribe to RSS feeds

Become a Member:

Would you like to see other similar articles and critical commentaries in The Canadian National Newspaper? Then, show your support. Make a member-pledge donation, in support of the Membership Drive of the Pro-Democracy Media Foundation.

The Canadian can only continue to publish investigative articles in such areas, with the donations from members of the public in Canada, the U.S., and abroad. Consider making a donation of $50.00, $75.00, $100.00, $200.00 or more. Donors are eligible to receive our first collector's print edition in mail. Alternatively, you can send us a note to be placed on our special email list of members. Member-donors can also suggest articles or commentaries to be published in The Canadian.

The Canadian is a socially progressive and not-for-profit national newspaper, with an international readership. We provide an alternative to the for-profit commercial focused media, which often censors vital information and perspective of potential interest to the diverse Canadian public, and other peoples internationally.

Become a member of The Canadian, with your donation-pledge. Help support independent, progressive, and not-for-profit journalism.