Hundreds of people from across Canada gathered today to protest a proposed trade deal that would threaten workers, First Nations, municipal democracy and our public services.
More than 200 people attended the rally to protest the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Negotiations are taking place in Ottawa today and the EU is pushing for full access to purchasing and contracting in municipalities, municipal organizations, school boards and publicly funded academic, health and social service entities.
Daniel Légère, who spoke at the rally on behalf of CUPE, vowed to work to stop this flawed deal in its tracks.
“It’s a deal which threatens public services, threatens municipal sovereignty and threatens to give international corporations new rights to veto the decisions of elected governments,” said Légère, president of CUPE New Brunswick.
Working together with the Council of Canadians, other unions, First Nations organizations and the Trade Justice Network, CUPE will continue to fight to ensure public services are owned and operated by democratically elected governments and run on a not-for-profit basis.
There is no place for trade deals that prohibit keeping our services and infrastructure public and keeping our tax dollars flowing back into our communities.
For more information read our CETA fact sheet.