The Green Party of Canada
Platform 2006

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Fair Trading With Our Global Neighbours

There’s an old adage that good fences make good neighbours. The Green Party supports fair trade, not free trade – trade that puts Canadian sovereignty first.

Over the last fifteen years, international free trade agreements have become an important part of Canada's economy, but most of these agreements contain clauses that too often put foreign business interests first. Trade isn’t just about shipping goods and services. Trade agreements also impact on human rights, labour standards, cultural diversity and environmental laws.

Canadian corporations flock towards free trade zones to bypass environmental regulations and exploit cheap labour. In trade agreements such as NAFTA, a foreign investor has the right to seek compensation from our government if Canada enacts a law that results in the loss of revenue for the investor. These agreements essentially put a foreign company's rights over those of Canada. It limits our sovereignty and can paralyze our government's will to enact new environmental and human rights laws. Canada's interests have also been harmed by the United States’ refusal to respect NAFTA and WTO trade rulings in favour of Canada over the softwood lumber dispute. It makes one wonder why the U.S. signs free trade agreements, if they don’t believe in free trade?

To address some of these issues, citizens around the world have set up international networks to create their own brand of trade – fair trade. International fair trade networks build direct links between producers and consumers ensuring that labour standards and environmental laws are respected. The Green Party's vision of trade articulates itself around innovative policies like fair trade. We can make sure that when Canada trades with other countries it also shares its vision of a just and sustainable society instead of trading away our rights for foreign interests.

We must renegotiate these trade agreements and put Canada's interests and the environment first. 

Green Party MPs will support:

215.	Renegotiate our multilateral trade agreements, such as NAFTA and the upcoming FTAA, to include fair trade tariffs that work to protect human rights and our ecosystems, as well as terminate investor-state dispute mechanisms that erode Canada’s sovereignty and environmental laws.
216.	Propose a reform of the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank, placing these institutions under the authority of the UN general assembly, and shift the direction of international trade away from “free trade” to “fair trade” focusing on the global protection of human rights, labour standards, cultural diversity, and ecosystems.

Authorized by the registered agent for the Green Party of Canada