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Mayor rallies against GATS
By John Knox, Burnaby NOW reporter
It was just over a year ago that city council first sounded the alarm about the vulnerability civic governments face when exposed to international trade agreements like NAFTA and the General Agreement on Trades and Services (GATS).
And after months of rallying support from cities all across the province, Burnaby finally won over the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, earning a unanimous decision to lobby the federal government to protect civic services and natural resources from international trade deals.
Mayor Derek Corrigan was in Regina recently to sell the FCM on the idea that municipal governments and regional agencies like the GVRD could soon find themselves fighting massive court battles against huge corporations seeking a piece of the Canadian market.
NAFTA and GATS open the door for such lawsuits, Corrigan told a panel of FCM directors, and the federal government needs to protect the interests of its citizens.
"Our leaders are starting to stand up because they're beginning to see the negative impact these agreements have," Corrigan said at a recent city council meeting.
Corrigan said one threat lays with the privatization of a government service such as the provision of drinking water through the GVRD.
Such a move was briefly considered last year when the GVRD sought applications for a public private partnership to operate reservoirs in the North Shore.
Had such a deal gone through, Corrigan said, local governments may not have been able to ever revert things back to public operation without facing fierce opposition from large corporations and international trade organizations - and doing battle with such foes would prove far too costly for most communities in B.C.
Corrigan also noted two recent news articles which suggest the European Union has set its sights on Canada's banks and government service sector for privatization, and is petitoning the World Trade Organization to force Canada to open its doors to foreign ownership.
"The likelihood (this current generation) will survive these deals is quite good, but it is our children who will feel the effects if we don't do something," Corrigan said.
"We have to stand up. We don't want to have to say that this happened on our watch."
Corrigan said that the FCM now plans to lobby the Department of Foreign Affairs and Internal Trade (DFAIT) for some "real answers" to questions about civic accountability to trade agreements.
"Of the 21 questions we've put to DFAIT, the majority have gone unanswered," Corrigan said. "What this says is that the government is not confident in these trade agreements it has made."
Coun. Sav Dhaliwal said the situation is something all Burnaby residents should keep an eye on.
"It's very scary," he said. "I really don't like the direction we could be going in."
jknox@burnabynow.com
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