Al2- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 24, 1999

Locals criticize trade deal
for impact on sovereignty

A GLOBAL trade agrce-
ment that many people fear
could be the end of Cana-
dian autonomy on every-
thing from . environmental
protection lo- social —pro-
grams isn’t entirely dead,
according to the chair of a
legislative: committee prob-
ing the issue. -

“Discussions are going on
whether people think it’s
dead or not,’ said MLA
Joan Smallwood at hearings
here Feb. 17 into the Multi-
lateral Agreement on Invest-
ment (MAI).

Although Liberal MLAs
are boycotting: the hearings
as a waste of time and
money, Smallwood said the
key elements of the MAI
could simply resurface in
he next round of world
trade talks,

“Jobs are at risk. Social
programs are at risk. Our
abilily to protect the en-
viromment is at risk,’* she
said, “Citizens need to in-
fluence bow these global,
rules are made.”? ..
The Liberals pulled out of
the commiltee last October
when NDP members pushed
through a motion condemn-
ing MAI — something the
opposilion says pre-judged
the rest of the hearings. At
the same time: global talks
ou the issue broke down and
the organization leading dis-
cussions declared the MAI
effectively dead.

Liberal MLA Barry Pen-
ner says it’s a waste of
money to spend more than
$200,000 on the hearings
when the trade agreement is
dead and the government’s
opinion on it is already de-
cided.

“Some people don’ t think -
Elvis is dead but it doesn’t
mean we spend a quarter of

Nitty
gritty .

CONCLUSIONS ofthe’
committee
looking into the MAT °in- .

government

clude:
Bi Investment is defined so
broadly that everything “Is
covered unless explicity in-
cluded. That means health
care,

the table.
HM Performance

be watered down,

m Local purchase policies’
efforts: . " wee

and job creation
could be struck down.

| Dispute-settlement proce-.

dures contemplated could

have allowed companies to , :
. arbitration.

force binding
overriding local laws. ©

Wanted :

THERE AREN’T enough -

people from the orth being* =
nominated for the Order of...
B.C., say twoMLAs, oo?

Prince George cabinet.
ministers Paul Ramsey .and-,
Lois

vince’s
award,

highest

emers who have achieved
excellence in their own
areas of expertise,” said.
Boone. ‘‘We want to make
sure the contributions of
these individuals are ack:
nowledged.?? >.

Of the 134 Order of BC.
recipients since 1990, only
six are from the north.

Two, Edna
Cooper, are. from Terrace
and were honoured tn 1995;

Former
mayor Peter Lester was
given the award in 1994,

» Two awards ‘went;

tortheastern B.C...

Nomination forms.
available from, any govern-
ment agent's office. «

The form
downloaded
winwprotocol. gov,besca <3

The nomination. déadlin
is March 10, Recipienis: are
chosen by. a group: headed’
by the Chief Justiee of B. C.F

social services, . en-..
vironmental protection, cul- .
ture and other sectors are on -

require-

ments on things like en--..
vironmental standards could” ;.

Boone. want morel ,
nominations for the pro-.
service

“There are many sorth-, -

‘and Bob |

- = aguas LAD ti

caw be.
Oo ates

PEOPLE SHOULD come ahead of mone

y in international trade agreements,

Anglican Church Rev, Dean Houghton told a B.C. government hearing on the Mul-
tilateral Agreement on Investment here last week.

a inillion dollars on a
government
planning for his comeback
tour,” he said.

Penner said the roving
hearings are more of an
NDP effort to rebuild its
core support with Jabour and
enviromental groups..

About 15 people were
listening in on the hearings
at any given time here.

The 16 speakers who
came from as far as Kitimat
and Smithers included ‘en-
viromnentalists, union and
college reps and Terrace
Women’s Resouree Centre
Teps.

Ken Dagg, of the Cana-
dian Auto Workers in
Kitimat, said the MAT
would elevate investor
Tights above all others and
“sell out democracy as we
know it.”’

‘We don’t see any bene-
fits for labour, unions or the
working people of British

committee -

Columbia,”’ he said.

St. Matthew’s Anglican
Church Rev. Dean
Houghton said more empha-
sis should be placed on
people than money.

“We need to place com-
munily ahead of the corpo-
rate bottom line,’”? Houghton

said. ‘While capital may be.

Quid, community is not.”’

Liz Ball, representing the
women’s centre and CUPE
Local 1012, told the hearing
trade agreements like MAI
could strike down Canadian
programs from Medicare to
employment insurance.

Ball and others said com-
panies are already getting
their way — citing Canada’s
payment of $13 million in
compensation to Esso for
banning the © company’s
MMT  fucl additive here
after. deciding '-
dangerous.

‘She said MAI-style agree-'
ments could also force open

was”

the floodgates of things like
water exports.

Environmentalists said
such agreements could take
apart, the environmental and
stream - protections now in
place in B.C.'s Forest Prac-
tices Code.

College student Colleen
Craig said she holds down
three minimum wage jobs
and. that MAI-style agree-
ments could = effectively
eliminate minimum wages
by allowing companies to
suc for lost profits in juris-
dictions that have them,

“Under MAI, the govern-
ment would be the represen-
latives of big business, not
me,’’ she said.

Diandra Oliver, a 16-year-
old high school student
warking at the women’s
centre, said the agreement

would deny young Cana- . °
dream of a.
unionized job .and- guaran- ...

dians their

teed social programs. ,

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