From: brewnoserii@gmail.com   
      
   And God help Canada and all Canadians if it is signed today.  This is one of   
   the largest decisions being made by politicians who've gotten together on a   
   trade issue, and we know absolutely nothing about it as citizens.   
      
   And we *won't* know anything about it until after it's been inked and sealed   
   as 'accepted' by the damned government we know as the Harper Cons.   
      
   Brace for some major fallout when details are finally made available . . . .   
   but expect Harper to do his damnedest to *not* release details before Oct 19th   
   voting day.   
   That will give us some indication as to just how much he has sold out to 'free   
   enterprise'.   
   ________________________________________   
   ATLANTA -- The Canadian Press - Sunday, Oct. 04, 2015   
      
    TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP   
    TPP deal expected to be announced today   
      
   Twelve countries including Canada appear on the verge of creating the world's   
   largest regional trade zone.   
      
   After five days of around-the-clock negotiations, an announcement appears   
   imminent on the Trans-Pacific Partnership which would cover 40 per cent of the   
   world's economy.                                         ^^^^^^^   
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
   Some national delegations have already begun briefing industry stakeholders on   
   the contents.  There was word of a late-afternoon press conference.   
      
   That sense of anticipation could be overheard even from people delivering   
   stacks of pizza boxes to the floor at an Atlanta hotel where negotiators have   
   been huddled for days: "It's getting close," one said.   
      
   The agreement would reduce or eliminate barriers in a wide range of sectors   
   and could lead to more Canadian exports of pork, beef, canola, high-tech   
   machinery and a variety of other products.   
      
   It would also entrench new international trade standards in Asia, setting a   
   template should any other countries in that fast-growing region -- like China   
   -- want to join.   
      
   Other parts could be controversial in Canada.  It's expected to increase   
   imports of foreign car parts and possibly dairy, which could mean lower prices   
   and greater selection for consumers but also hurt some workers in both sectors.   
      
   The deal needs to be ratified in national parliaments, and the NDP's recent   
   opposition to the TPP process is an early example of the political challenges   
   it could face in several countries.   
      
   It's unclear when voters might see the fine print.  One of the outstanding   
   sources of uncertainty is when a legal review might be completed of the actual   
   text of the deal.   
      
   More details on that front, and on the agreement itself, should become clearer   
   after the late-afternoon news conference, tentatively scheduled for around 4   
   p.m. ET.   
      
   An agreement would complete a decade-long process that began with four   
   countries in Asia, and spread to the United States and finally Canada -- with   
   the final announcement landing smack in the middle of a Canadian federal   
   election.   
      
   Differences were being bridged Sunday on one major irritant, with the U.S. and   
   Australia working to resolve a dispute over exclusivity rights for   
   next-generation biologics medicines.   
      
   The final question mark involved dairy, and Canada. New Zealand, which helped   
   create the TPP project a decade ago, wants to sell more butter in North   
   America -- especially in the United States.   
      
   But New Zealand has said in the past that the U.S. wouldn't budge on   
   agriculture controls unless it also saw an opening from its northern neighbour.   
      
   Currently, 90 per cent of the Canadian dairy market is closed to foreign   
   products. The system allows for stable incomes in farming communities, but   
   limits options and drives up prices at the grocery store.   
      
   The Canadian government has insisted that it won't dismantle the   
   supply-management system, and it faces political pressure not to do so from   
   its opponents, provincial governments, and the dairy lobby.   
      
   The state of play was summarized by New Zealand's trade minister -- who easily   
   provided the most-memorable quote of the five-day meetings.   
      
   Under pressure to obtain foreign access for his own country's dairy, he told   
   one of his country's newspapers that difficult compromises will have to be   
   made.   
      
   He illustrated it with an unappetizing culinary metaphor.   
      
   "It's got the smell of a situation we occasionally see which is that on the   
   hardest core issues, there are some ugly compromises out there," Tim Groser   
   told New Zealand's Weekend Herald.   
      
   "And when we say ugly, we mean ugly from each perspective -- it doesn't mean   
   'I've got to swallow a dead rat and you're swallowing foie gras.'    It means   
   both of us are swallowing dead rats on three or four issues to get this deal   
   across the line."   
      
   Twelve countries including Canada appear on the verge of creating the world's   
   largest regional trade zone.   
      
   After five days of around-the-clock negotiations, an announcement appears   
   imminent on the Trans-Pacific Partnership which would cover 40 per cent of the   
   world's economy.   
      
   Some national delegations have already begun briefing industry stakeholders on   
   the contents. There was word of a late-afternoon press conference.   
      
   That sense of anticipation could be overheard even from people delivering   
   stacks of pizza boxes to the floor at an Atlanta hotel where negotiators have   
   been huddled for days: "It's getting close," one said.   
      
   The agreement would reduce or eliminate barriers in a wide range of sectors   
   and could lead to more Canadian exports of pork, beef, canola, high-tech   
   machinery and a variety of other products.   
      
   It would also entrench new international trade standards in Asia, setting a   
   template should any other countries in that fast-growing region -- like China   
   -- want to join.   
      
   Other parts could be controversial in Canada. It's expected to increase   
   imports of foreign car parts and possibly dairy, which could mean lower prices   
   and greater selection for consumers but also hurt some workers in both sectors.   
      
   The deal needs to be ratified in national parliaments, and the NDP's recent   
   opposition to the TPP process is an early example of the political challenges   
   it could face in several countries.   
      
   It's unclear when voters might see the fine print. One of the outstanding   
   sources of uncertainty is when a legal review might be completed of the actual   
   text of the deal.   
      
   More details on that front, and on the agreement itself, should become clearer   
   after the late-afternoon news conference, tentatively scheduled for around 4   
   p.m. ET.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)