Who, what,when, where, WHY, and how ? The Canada China trade agreement that had an Environmental Assessment done that no one knew about… and passed with flying colours.

Posted on by Laila

From Gordon Wilson… yes THAT Gordon Wilson, who is as concerned as the rest of us at what has transpired in Canada… under the most dubious of circumstances:

“This is shocking! According to this document “An Initial EA of the Canada-China FIPA was completed in January 2008. The Government of Canada opened the Initial EA for public comments from February 20 to March 21, 2008. No public comments were received.” Where was this deal explained to Canadians? How was the invitation to review and comment made? Where were our opposition Members of Parliament?”

Indeed, where were they? Sleeping? Texting? In the bathroom? All of the above? Take a look at this document for the scary reality of what your government can and will do, without checking with you first… http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/china-chine/finalEA-china-chine-EEfinale.aspx?lang=eng&view=d

As a province with significant foreign investment occurring, including investments and initiatives from a large percentage of Chinese owned and Chinese state connected corporations, I am greatly concerned about the lack of action from our provincial government and our official opposition. And yes, this has implications for Enbridge as well, so where is the discourse, the outcry from the parties here in BC?

Where is our provincial government on this? AWOL.

Where is our official opposition on this? AWOL, with the exception of a few candidates who are proactive on their own.

And where are you on this? Get loud, get assertive now.

Our federal government managed to get this agreement this far with little to zero public input. How did that happen? Do we live in a democracy or what?

The people of Canada – and in particular, the people of BC, because we have had a government who has banked on so much Chinese owned investment- need representation independent of any political party with any influence or vested interest.

We need a constitutential lawyer of our own to file an injunction on behalf of the people of BC…. not because we have an election coming and need votes, not for political posturing, but because this agreement has long-lasting and far-reaching implications that require independent representation for the people.

Anything less is a handover of our sovereignty on many levels.

The questions now are, is there a lawyer out there willing to take this one, and what will you do to make sure Canadian interests are placed above any other?

20 thoughts on “Who, what,when, where, WHY, and how ? The Canada China trade agreement that had an Environmental Assessment done that no one knew about… and passed with flying colours.”

  1. I’ve already sent off messages to appropriate committee members, to my MP, and to the local press. There are some who are hopping mad, many whose reaction is “whatever”, and a ton of people who just don’t know and won’t care until they see the fallout. Considering what we’ve seen of the consequences of the FTA, then NAFTA, it’s not difficult to draw conclusions as to the nature of this, and all recent trade agreements: they privilege the investor (often foreign, but exploitation by Canadians is no picnic either) at the expense of sovereignty, the environment, democratic rule and the rules of democracy, and our overall long-term well-being by allowing one set of rules for production and another for consumption. Say hello to serfdom.

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  2. Oh, Im sure there will be no shortage of lawyers rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of endless” billable hours” on this trade agreement.

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    1. I agree and that has been commented on already elsewhere… but still, the people need representation aside from that of any political party. I think it is that important, and I think the governments all are banking on the peoples ignorance once again to get this through.

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  3. This is becoming a disturbing trend.

    This EA started in 2005, the same time TILMA was being negotiated which also has the same language as FIPPA in terms of penalizing governments for blocking or creating obstacles to development projects.

    Then in 2008 another deal was done which exactly like this FIPPA related EA, a 30 day period for commentary and input resulted in nothing and no one heard about it. That resulted in an equivalency agreement which saw BC forfeit its ability to review and assess four major oil and gas projects including Enbridges Northern Gateway Pipeline.

    The people who have mandates to involve themselves in environmental assessments and defend and forward the rights of British Columbians have completely failed us.

    This proves in spades that the exploitation of Canadas resources has involved a now long standing conspiracy, yes a conspiracy in the literal sense of the term not the tinfoil hat style, to sideline Canadians and British Columbians and pave the way for a massive escalation in exploitation and liquidation of our resources.

    Its an all pain no gain agenda and those responsible for representing the rights and sovereignty of Canadians are implicated in the complicity of working to usher in this agenda, not just in their absence but in their actions as well.

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  4. they received no public comments because we the public knew nothing about it . i am scared now. what on earth is this government doing to us??

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  5. Thanks for keeping this current… Its essentially invisible on mainstream media.
    I’m still waiting for an intelligent explanation from a federal minister or federal cabin boy.
    Perhaps the westerner PM from Toronto will illuminate us per his Masters degree in Economics
    on how he took the Chinese to the cleaners on this..

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      2. The issue here is not just governments and public officials but also the role fo NGOs. Look at the mandates of WCEL, Dogwood and Forest Ethics etc. They are all MANDATED to address precisely these issues. Yet they did nothing. Said nothing and often boosted the public officials and governments responsible.

        There selective involvement in this issues and deciding what to bring attention to and when, why and how is highly suspect. Much like the recent Defend our Coast initiative, which has focused mostly on a dead proposal and has fallen silent on LNG, Offshore drilling and alternate destinations for the Dilbit pipelines like, Tsawwassen and possibly Prince Rupert.

        We are indeed on our own, and the push back now is up to independents and other interested and relevant organizations to make it political salient for political parties to act on like in the case of the Equivalency Agreement.

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        3. I wish it was just the silence that was of concern.

          I have submitted a new post for Common Sense just today, should be up one day soon.

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  6. Campbell and Harper signed a sneak deal behind our backs. The deal is. Harper can force the Enbridge pipeline onto BC, just as they scammed and lied in, the HST onto us too.

    People don’t see. With Harper, there are no morals or ethics. There is no democracy. We no longer have Civil Rights and Liberties. Our Freedom of Speech is under attack. Courts are controlled, judges, police, Elections Canada, the media, scientists, are all controlled.

    Did you read, Pat Bell’s comment on Bill Tieleman’s web site? The BC Liberals are going to open the door to Red China, even wider. We will be overrun by Communist Chinese.

    When they say, Canada is Harper’s garden of evil, that’s exactly what Harper has done. Harper has sold us out to, a very horrible country. Neither Harper nor China, have any ethics or morals, what-so-ever.

    That’s why I keep saying. BC has to get the hell out of Harper’s Canada, to get away from Red China. We have to take our province back. We have to stop Harper and the BC Liberals, from giving us to a Communist country. We need BC to be, our own little country. Keep our tax dollars, even our own HST for ourselves, if need be. Take back our resources, Campbell thieved and sold to Red China. Take our BCR back, our thieved rivers back. Be rid of the filthy diseased fish farms. BC has vast natural resources, we need to take them all back. BC could survive on our own. Save our province from, becoming a polluted wasteland. Do you think Harper and Red China give a damn about our beautiful province? Tell that evil s.o.b. Harper, to bugger off. We can go to court, til the cows come home. It won’t do us any good. We will be ruled against every time. If you’re the right person in BC. They courts will let you get away with murder, and all kinds of thefts and corruption. Some politicians only need a Special Prosecutor, to get off their crimes. Even the media, kicks the BC citizens in the face.

    GET BC THE HELL OUT, OF HARPER’S CANADA.

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    1. I agree 100% Negotiating through the defacto Justice system isn’t going to get us anywhere. We need to go Icelandic on all of them and jail those wouldbe public servants, fire the govt and start over from scratch with people from, Renewable Clean Resources, Alternative Energies, Alternative Health, Education etc. We don’t Need People with Lawyer and Big Business backgrounds representing themselves anymore. We need people who give a damn and are truely concerned with the well being of humanity.

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  7. It happened because our unelected premier has been too busy creating photo ops. If this deal goes through we are hooped. We can kiss soverereignty good bye.
    Harper is so far removed about the realities of our beautiful province, that we should get the western separatist movement going full speed ahead. Harper can have Quebec….:) Seriously, though…..I worry for the future of our country. If people like Gordo and Harper (and Mulroney in the past) keep selling us off to the highest bidder there will come a time when we won’t be a sovereign nation in charge of ourselves.
    Europeans did it to the first nations and now the Asians (and our own leaders) are doing to us.

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  9. Why would Harper permit China to buy up the tar sands? Canadians are certainly not liking this. Why would Harper give all of the jobs to China, rather than his own citizens? Those people will send all of their money back home, their money won’t be spent in Canada, as ours would. I certainly don’t want the Enbidge pipeline coming into BC. However, giving jobs away at the oil sands, absolutely doesn’t add to Harper’s cause. He chides to Congo on their lack of Human Rights. Human Rights in China, are no better. Harper makes no sense, his behavior is beyond bizarre.

    Premier Redford has also made a deal with the U.S. Their war vets are getting the jobs from the pipeline out of Alberta.

    The Americans won the contract for the tear down, of the old smelter in Kitimat. They too brought their own workers. The few Canadians that did get jobs, were treated like dirt by the Americans. They weren’t even given safety gear. They had to breathe in Aluminum dust, while the Americans were given respirators. Most of the Canadians had to quit, the American workers were total jerks. The U.S. also is building the new smelter. Camps are supposed to be dry camps in Canada. The Americans are permitted to have booze in their camp. The people from around there, will certainly be happy to get rid of the Americans. They have no respect for others property, what-so-ever. They tie traffic up for hours.

    Campbell did the same to BC. He put our BC mill family’s out of work, by shipping mills to China, plus our raw logs. Same with the mines, those jobs aren’t for the people of BC either. China gets those jobs too. Some of new mines coming into BC, are American. They will bring their own workers for those jobs. I can’t remember if my son said, China also owns some of those new mines. However, if they do, it won’t be Canadians who get those jobs either.

    China is being arrogant and throwing their weight around at other country’s. Hacking into secret files, selling infected electronic components. From what I can gather. Canadians want nothing to do with China. Most feel China is a worse threat to Canada, than Iran.

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