A PETITION CONCERNING THE PROPOSED CANADA-CENTRAL AMERICA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
We, the undersigned residents of Canada,
draw the attention of the House to the following:
THAT the Canadian Government is negotiating a free trade agreement, dubbed CA4FTA, with Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
THAT the CA4FTA and other bilateral agreements serve as gateways to the continental Free Trade Area of the Americas.
THAT experience indicates that existing trade agreements place the economic interests of foreign investors and large transnational corporations ahead of social justice, human rights, and environmental sustainability.
THAT the CA4FTA is being negotiated with no public consultation and transparency.
THAT this lack of transparency raises fears that the CA4FTA's content may be harmful to the majority of Guatemalans, Salvadoreans, Hondurans, and Nicaraguans.
THEREFORE, your petitioners call upon Parliament to immediately make public the full text of the CA4FTA; to ensure that any trade negotiations between Canada, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua guarantee the primacy of economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights over neoliberal trade laws; to commit to wide-ranging public consultation and parliamentary debate over any proposed CA4FTA; and to ensure that the Canadian Government will not sign any proposed CA4FTA that does not meet the aforementioned requirements.
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