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Paul Moist, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), is calling on all members of the union to join the campaign to stop the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) currently being negotiated by the federal government.

CETA represents one of the greatest threats our public system has ever faced,” said Moist in a letter to all CUPE locals. Moist is calling on local presidents to lobby municipal councils to adopt a resolution opposing the deal. The union has launched a toolkit to help locals lobby their municipal government.

The draft resolution asks municipal governments to request a briefing from their provincial government, work with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to get more information about the proposed deal and call on provincial governments to negotiate a clear, permanent exemption for local governments from CETA.

If CETA is signed it will expose communities to legal challenges on local, environmental and ethical purchasing strategies and will be a serious threat to local democracy and public services in Canada. The European Union is demanding full access to sub-national purchasing and contracting in Canada. That means giving multi-national corporations access to our municipalities, school boards and publicly funded academic institutions, health and social service entities and our municipal water systems.

Some cities and towns are already taking action. The Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) recently passed a resolution about CETA brought forward by the District of Logan Lake and City of Burnaby.

The Canada-European Union free trade and investment talks are advancing quickly and provincial-territorial offers on services, procurement and investment could be sent to EU negotiators as early as the end of December. 

  • Consult the CUPE toolkit today and help stop CETA and the devastating impact it will have on our public services.