I'm with the Windsor-Essex chapter of the Council of Canadians. As you know, we've been involved with trade agreements right from the cusp of the first one, the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, and every one of those trade agreements has seen a little more erosion of our democracy in Canada. As someone said, we are the most sued country under NAFTA, and 70% of the suits have been against Canada. Someone said also on this panel, “Yes, but if they sue us, we sue them”. How is that good for citizens? What is all this doing? How is it good for us? It's not good for citizens. We have a perfectly good court system that any country could go to if they wanted to sue our country. Why do we have these panels of three members that are chosen by...? Well, I guess it switches back and forth, two by the company and one by Canada, and vice versa. All of these lawyers that they use switch back and forth from one group to the other. One time they're defending the country and the next time they're defending the corporation.
We try to protect our environment. One of the things that comes to mind is the St. Lawrence Seaway. We're trying to prevent the fracking industry from contaminating the St. Lawrence River. It's the only major river of that size going out of Canada, and it drains all of the Great Lakes. The upper Great Lakes are being contaminated even worse than that, but we should be protecting that river right from the source.
We have trade tribunals, and they're a farce as far as I'm concerned. They're above the law. They give these corporations more power than our government itself. Taking into account the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land that we walk on, all of these things are being affected by these tribunals and by these trade agreements. We have no control over that. What is the main purpose of our government? Its main purpose is to work for the citizens of our country. What I saw in the last election was that these corporations didn't vote. Why are they making rules that affect all of us citizens of Canada?
Thank you very much.