In August of last year while on a tour of South America, most notable for his bathroom misadventures, Harper signed a free trade agreement with the leaders of the Honduran coup. In justifying his actions Harper stated that the agreement would lead to an improved human rights atmosphere for the
Continue readingTag: free trade
Troubling questions about CETA ‘s impact on municipalities
As negotiations between Canada and the EU near their completion we still don’t know many of the details as our government only sees fit to brief business interests on them, but what we do know is extremely troubling. CETA in the governments own words is the “most robust” trade and
Continue readingThe economy lab, the dark age of free trade theory, and the naive view on natural resources and economic development
Over at the Economy Lab in the Globe which Failed, which itself has gone from bad to worse, one of the economists they keep in their stable has either produced an extraordinarily naive analysis or a dishonest one. I am … Continue reading →
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Jim Stanford: Out of Equilibrium: The Implications of CETA
Out of Equilibriam from Jim Sadlemyer on Vimeo.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: What CETA Would Mean for Canada’s Auto Industry
Canadian free trade negotiators are going all-out to get a deal with the EU on a new free trade agreement. The Harper government wants a deal badly for largely symbolic and ideological purposes, to show that the free trade agenda is back on track under this “stable majority government.” Many valid concerns have been raised […]
Continue readingMore free trade in oppression: Honduras: The Deadliest Place in the World for a Journalist
On Friday August 12,2011, While on a state visit to Honduras,the first by any leader since the coup, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the signing of a free trade deal with the Lobos government. In announcing this agreement Harper contend…
Continue reading10 Reasons Why CETA is Bad for Canada
“You can basically say that almost everything in the economy is up for discussion” Peter Van Loan This video from the folks at NAURESISTANCE.org highlights some of the dangers to Canada posed by the proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (…
Continue readingNo Mr Harper Free Trade Does Not Improve Human Rights
In justifying the signing of free trade agreements with Columbia and Honduras Harper sloughed off human rights concerns by stating that one of the ancillary benefits of open trade is that it improves the conditions in these nations resulting in an impr…
Continue readingThe irony of greed: The end game for Neoliberalism?
The global economy is in the toilet and the Boomers’ representatives are chanting: “flush, flush, flush.” Me? I am eating cigarettes and wine while admiring the remarkable consistency in the myopia of all of it. In the name of fisca…
Continue readingNo Wonder Harper Wants Us Kept In The Dark On CETA
While our government continues to refuse to let the Canadian public in on the details of the current negotiations toward finalizing the Comprehensive Economic & Trade Agreement (CETA) with the EU, they have no such qualms when it comes to Busi…
Continue readingAn Open Letter To Harper From The Women Of Honduras
OPEN LETTERCholoma, Cortés, August 12, 2011TO:The Right Honourable Stephen Joseph Harper, Prime Minister of Canada;Mr. Porfirio Lobo Sosa, President of Honduras;Mr. Africo Madrid, Secretary of State for the Interior;The International Community;Especia…
Continue readingCanada’s Free Trade in Oppression
On June 28th 2009 the democratically elected Manuel Zelaya government was overthrown by the Honduran military.Zelaya was preparing to rewrite Honduras’ constitution that was drafted by a previous US back military dictatorship and institute land reforms…
Continue readingWe Always Knew Stevie Harper Was Anally Retentive
Well, well, well! What do we have here? Stevie locked hisself in the john, AGAIN??
On a trade mission to Brazil this week, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper apparently engaged in some pretty undiplomatic behavior, according to Brazilian newspaper Folha.
On Monday, Brazilian president Dilma Rouseff asked that official speeches and toasts take place . . . → Read More: We Always Knew Stevie Harper Was Anally Retentive
Continue readingThe ‘debt crisis’ and the undermining of democracy in Europe
While CK’s on the road, she’s invited me to blog and cross-post here. So I’m recycling this tasty little item, which I found via @NaomiAKlein. (They say she’s polarizing … )
A sample:
Vast swathes of public policy have already been closed off and rendered inaccessible to conventional democratic processes. Anyone who’s seen . . . → Read More: The ‘debt crisis’ and the undermining of democracy in Europe
Continue readingDemocracy withers away: Europe’s wakeup call – Le Monde diplomatique | via @NaomiAKlein
Serge Halimi: Europe’s wakeup call – Le Monde diplomatique – English editionWhen the balance that keeps labour and capital in relative equilibrium gets trashed (or more likely in this context, sold off to private investors), the political and so…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: “Time to Reduce Exposure to Europe”
CBC National News reconvened their “Bottom Line” economics panel (including yours truly) last night to discuss the twin debt crises (Europe and America) that are currently roiling financial markets. Here’s the link to the webcast for aficionados. In the last segment, Pater Mansbridge asked all the panelists how the debt problems should affect individual Canadians’ personal […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: TILMA by Stealth
A month ago, Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments volunteered to be directly sued by investors under the Agreement on Internal Trade. This quiet announcement from Brudenell, Prince Edward Island, seems to have gone almost unnoticed. But it is a huge step toward imposing the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) on all Canadian […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: New CAW Film About the Economics of CETA
The CAW has just released a 20-minute video featuring none other than yours truly giving a short lecture about the economics of the proposed Canada-EU free trade agreement (a.k.a. CETA). This link takes you to the film, which can be downloaded for free and shown at information meetings or any other organizing events. The lecture […]
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: A Question of Sovereignty – a film by Kevin P. Miller
The film is highly manipulative, seeking our emotional identification through the victim testimonials, for example, and less than nuanced in its methods of weaving privacy legislation issues, free trade, and sovereignty issues together. But it has a…
Continue readingCo2 Art: Bombardier Cuts 1400 U.K. Workers: Welcome to the Hallucina-Scam of "Free" Trade in Europe
Tough news yesterday for 1400+ workers being laid off at the Bombardier train factory in Derby, U.K.
Therein a very stark and hard-boiled lesson for naive Canadians who believe that “free” trade with Europe means anything of the sort.
The lay-offs co…
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