Last year, June 26th , Council of Canadians wrote to you about the threat to the independence of our municipal government from the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement.
Since Canada is harmonizing our pesticide limits with the U.S and Mexico under the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), we will be obliged to raise our limits and will have increased residues on our foods. In addition, TILMA could seriously undermine our municipal by-law and indeed our provincial limits re pesticides. Has the city been talking with the province about this? Is there a record of Guelph’s opinion on this? Premier McGuinty is a strong proponent of a TILMA-type agreement. Some municipalities have passed motions refusing to harmonize their regulations (as TILMA dictates) .
The Council of Canadians sees TILMA as part of the larger agenda to weaken Canada’’s regulatory environment so that our regulations and policies on everything from food and drugs to energy, water and the environment can be harmonized with those in the United States –- a primary goal of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico SPP agreement.
The Council of Canadians also has serious concerns regarding Guelph’s independence for our electrical energy utility since the Guelph Hydro presentation on Feb 26/08 favoured our merger with a much larger group. Is a decision being made about this? We understand that the province is increasing the pressure to make this deal by giving a tax break if we decide before Sept/08. Yet it may not be in Guelph’s best interest in the long run.
Thank you for updating us on Guelph’s stance on these issues. NC