International Trade committee  No, we haven't supported any.

International Trade committee  We've had critiques of all the trade agreements that have come up.

International Trade committee  On the direct threat of lawsuits, well, in my understanding the municipalities and the provinces, under the language that we've seen, won't be subject to direct lawsuits. It's the Government of Canada. This is similar to NAFTA. It's the fact that the municipalities and the provinces would be beholden to those regulations, and the first time municipalities themselves would be beholden to the agreement.

International Trade committee  No, without the final text, I don't think that's an easy thing to do. Certainly, we haven't looked at that. Certainly the services in energy and waste-water management are things we're looking at as being threatened. We feel that any privatized service would be under threat of not being able to be brought back in-house.

International Trade committee  Sure.

International Trade committee  I can certainly get that wording for you. I don't have it in front of me.

International Trade committee  No, it was a vote of the membership by hands.

International Trade committee  Yes. It's by voting cards. That is the convention that our membership is voted on.

International Trade committee  That's not done in Canada.

International Trade committee  I think it depends on the local, but if my memory serves me correctly, at CUPE it is a secret ballot for votes on collective bargaining.

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  For collective bargaining, yes.

International Trade committee  The provisions within the agreement that are put on the table come from engagement with the membership and so forth. There are certainly situations where negotiations happen behind closed doors, if that's the language you like to use, but they certainly don't get voted on behind closed doors, and they certainly don't get finalized behind closed doors.

International Trade committee  It's not like free trade agreements that basically get signed behind closed doors, or have limited aspects.... There's also a situation where the interests of the members are represented from the beginning. There's a consultation process before that negotiation happens. Similar to the EU, the EU has a trade mandate that's put forward.

International Trade committee  That's the trade [Inaudible — Editor]