We are writing to you as concerned members of the Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest citizens’ organization, regarding the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) between British Columbia and Alberta, which came into effect on April 1, 2007. This far-reaching free trade agreement was signed, quietly, by the premiers of British Columbia and Alberta without it being subjected to any debate in either provincial legislature. Other provinces, including Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia have showed an interest in signing on to TILMA.
Research by the Council of Canadians shows that TILMA will dramatically impact a municipality’s ability to draft or maintain any regulations that are deemed by a corporation or private individual to “impair or restrict” their investment. Through TILMA, such “investors” are granted the right to launch lawsuits for up to $5-million in compensation for any regulation that they feel hurts their bottom line. Since all regulations can been seen in this light, TILMA throws the whole definition of local government into question, threatening to seriously undermine municipal autonomy and hand considerable power over to the private sector.
TILMA is clear that it will cover all government “measures” (or everything a local government does) unless they are specifically excluded from the agreement. At this time, even the limited exclusions are subject to annual review. A Council of Canadians fact sheet on TILMA puts it this way:
Government “entities” covered by TILMA, and therefore vulnerable to private lawsuits, include regional, local, district or other forms of municipal government as well as school boards. So, for instance, a TILMA dispute resolution panel could rule that land use regulations violate the agreement by restricting real estate investments. Local government zoning bylaws to prevent urban sprawl, green space requirements for housing developments, and height restrictions on buildings are further examples of potential TILMA violations. Local limits on billboard advertising, noise bylaws and pesticide restrictions could also be in jeopardy under TILMA, since these regulations restrict or impair investment. Even if TILMA’s list of legitimate government objectives were expanded to include such everyday goals of local governance, a TILMA panel would still have to be convinced that measures designed to achieve these objectives were the least restrictive possible – an almost impossible task when you think about it.
Municipalities across British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan have responded to citizens’ concerns about TILMA by directing their staff to investigate and report back to Council. Some have passed motions refusing to harmonize regulations (as the agreement dictates) until more information has been made available. Others are passing resolutions requesting that the Union of British Columbia Municipalities prepare a report to municipalities based on independent research.
The importance of an independent review of TILMA was also emphasized earlier this year in a study by the city solicitor in Saskatoon, who determined that if Saskatchewan were to sign on to TILMA, it would have serious consequences for “local choice.” http://canadians.org/DI/issues/TILMA/resources.html Please read the City of Saskatoon report. It outlines very serious implications that we could have in Guelph as well.
Council of Canadians members across the country are working to make the public aware of the negative impacts of TILMA. We are determined to have the agreement reversed if possible, and to stop its spread across the country. We see 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 Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. There have been three secret meetings between senior corporate executives and our government, with no media present, since April 2005 and the fourth one is in August in Quebec. The export of water and energy from Canada to the whole North American Union, is planned to be included in the SPP at this conference.
Council of Canadians chapter members have made dozens of presentations to municipal councils and intend to hold their legislators accountable for their personal stands on TILMA. We are joined by other groups like the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the National Union of Public and General Employees, the Ontario Federation of Labour, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and municipalities across B.C., all of whom have put out statements or reports opposing TILMA and its agenda for Canada.
I encourage you to read through the material on TILMA contained in the following links.
The report from Saskatoon’s solicitor can be found at:
www.saskatoon.ca/org/clerks_office/council/agendas/fa_council_260207.pdf.
The CCPA has produced two reports on TILMA – one on the myth of inter-provincial trade barriers, the other on the dangers of TILMA – which are both available on its website: www.policyalternatives.ca.
And the Council of Canadians has compiled several backgrounders and a host of other information on its own website: www.canadians.org/DI/issues/TILMA/index.html.
As this information makes clear, the Alberta-B.C. Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement is about much more than reducing so-called inter-provincial trade barriers. It is essentially a new corporate bill of rights that has the potential to spread across the country, undermining local autonomy and municipal governments everywhere.
Thank you for your interest and for all the work you do for our wonderful city. NC