From: brewnoser2@gmail.com   
      
       
   . . .  not importers, such as the United States and Canada have become.     
      
   This is the kind of bullshit trade promotion we heard from Harper and his Cons   
   - and don't expect to continue hearing from Trudeau and his newly-elected   
   underlings.     
      
   There are huge perils in promoting trade with these types of countries . . .    
   the benefits will always be to the corporations who will use the giant   
   countries for cheap labour.   
      
   Our elected governments will lose the right to curtail abuses by the foreign   
   countries - whether they're operating in their own lands, or on our soil.   
      
   The losses will always be to Canadians (and Americans) who lose the   
   manufacture and labour of products to those cheap-labour countries.  And who   
   find our own governments impotent to stop the drain of jobs.   
      
   Chyrstia Freeland and her boss, Justin Trudeau, are going to need close   
   watching on these trade deals.  Do you really think Harper's Cons are going to   
   do any close watching? . . . .  It will once again be up to Thomas Mulcair and   
   his MPs to protect    
   Canadian interests.   
   __________________________________   
   CTVNews.ca - Sunday, January 10, 2016 9:32AM EST   
      
   International Trade Minister Chyrstia Freeland says that China and India are   
   priorities for the Liberal government's trade agenda, as they are "two huge,   
   growing markets."   
      
   In an interview with CTV's Question Period, Freeland emphasized the need for   
   Canada to connect with growing markets in the global economy, especially   
   amidst a "sluggish" economy at home.   
      
   "The prime minister has instructed me to work very, very hard to open up   
   economic opportunities for Canada in emerging markets, specifically singling   
   out China and India," said Freeland.   
      
   "These are two huge, growing markets, areas, where at a time the global   
   economy is not growing as quickly as we would like, we're still seeing   
   tremendous economic growth."   
      
   As instructed in her ministerial mandate letter, Freeland says she will work   
   hard to develop the "Asian opportunity" on the trade file.  She added that she   
   has already had "very productive meetings" with both China's minister of   
   commerce and India's    
   trade minister.   
      
   Freeland's comments come as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government   
   prepares for a major trade mission to China and India.  Trudeau is likely to   
   travel to the two countries in March after bilateral meetings with U.S.   
   President Barack Obama in    
   Washington, according to a report by The Globe and Mail earlier this week. The   
   trip is part of a longer-term goal of reaching a free-trade deal with China,   
   said the report.   
      
   While the Conservative Party generally supports free trade, the Official   
   Opposition is urging the government to put safeguards in place to ensure a   
   deal is transparent. The NDP is even more cautious.   
      
   ~   Conservative foreign affairs critic Tony Clement:   
   "China is obviously the big elephant in the room when it comes to these kinds   
   of deals and you have to make sure that whatever deal is done with China is   
   transparent, that the goals that the Chinese are committing themselves to are   
   transparently    
   accounted for."   
      
   ~   NDP MP Rachel Blaney:   
   "Our concern is simply, are they (the government) going to negotiate a trade   
   agreement that benefits, that protects Canadian workers, and looks at making   
   sure that we have a strong Canada?  Right now, we're giving away too much and   
   we need to protect our    
   country."   
      
   Laura Dawson, director of the Canada Institute at the Wilson Center in   
   Washington, recently co-authorized a study on a Canada-China free trade   
   agreement, which will be released next week. Speaking to Question Period,   
   Dawson summarized her thoughts on the    
   file:   
      
   ~   Canada stands to benefit in a huge way from a free-trade agreement with   
   China: "Billions and billions of dollars every year, especially in pork, in   
   lumber, in canola, in all of the areas we need to diversify our exports into."   
      
   ~   If Canada is concerned about the effects of a free-trade deal with China   
   on its relationship with the U.S., Dawson said there isn't much to worry   
   about: "The United States already has a high level economic dialogue and   
   framework with China ... It's    
   way ahead of the level of cooperation that Canada and China have, so I don't   
   think that we would put ourselves in an antagonistic position vis-à-vis the   
   United States."   
      
      
   TPP consultations will continue next week   
      
   Freeland said the Liberal government has not yet been invited to sign the   
   Trans Pacific Partnership and has also not decided whether it will do so.    
   Ministers from the 12 countries that have negotiated the massive trade deal,   
   including Canada, are    
   expected to sign the agreement in New Zealand in early February.   
      
   Freeland said she and Parliamentary Secretary David Lametti will continue   
   cross-country consultations on the trade deal next week, in addition to   
   discussions she has already had with the ministers of agriculture, innovation,   
   health and employment.   
      
   "When it comes to the signing, what is really important for people to   
   understand is that is just a technical step that allows people to continue   
   having consultations.  The really important question is ratification and we   
   have committed to a full    
   parliamentary debate, including committee study, ahead of that step."   
      
      
   Speaking to Question Period, experts agreed that Canada has too much to lose   
   by not signing the TPP:   
      
   ~   Former Canadian ambassador to the U.S. Michael Kergin: "We don't gain a   
   huge amount by getting into the TPP, except access to the Japanese market,   
   which is significant. But we lose enormously by not being part of the TPP...   
   Our competitors in Asia    
   will start to be able to export into Mexico and the United States."   
      
   ~   Canadian Global Affairs Institute Vice-President Colin Robertson: "This is   
   a no-brainer from a Canadian perspective.  Remember, 60 cents of every dollar   
   that we raise as Canadians, we generate through trade.  We need to have access   
   to the markets of    
   the world ... We've got to be piece of this.  There's no really alternative."   
   ____________________________   
      
   Me:   
   Note who the two "experts" are who are touting the trade deals: an ambassador   
   to the U.S. who's afraid that non-Canadian 'CORPORATIONS based in Asia will   
   export more to Mexico and the U.S.'   
      
   and Colin Robertson:   
   another "expert" that helped implement NAFTA - the treaty that has made Canada   
   a net-importer of goods, rather than a manufacturing nation and exporter.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)