Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for this invitation. With me today is Normand Pépin, who is responsible for Research Services of the Centrale des syndicats démocratiques, or CSD.
Before making comments, I would like to tell you that CSD is an organization that represents a little over 70,000 people in Quebec. We work mainly in the private sector, and a very high concentration of our members are in SMEs and in the regions.
As for the TPP, I will start my intervention by providing a statement from former French prime minister Lionel Jospin. Following negotiations for the multilateral agreement on investment, the MAI, Lionel Jospin stated, after seeing confidential documents—the agreement had been negotiated in secret, as it always is done—that, while it may be normal for a country to be able to transfer aspects of its sovereignty to an international government organization, it is out of the question that it would hand it over to private interests. I think that's a guiding principle that should be adopted in analyzing a free-trade agreement.
What hurts the various trade agreements, and the TPP is no exception, is the clause protecting foreign investors. This clause gives multinationals unreasonable and disproportionate powers that deprive governments of some of their powers. We think that is unacceptable. We will be told that a new standard on the protection of investor rights in trade agreements emerged from the agreement negotiated with Europe. However, analyses of this new version that appears in the agreement with Europe show us that, since all the lawsuits against the Government of Canada would be replicated with this new version. You will understand that we believe this is simply unacceptable. We are referring to them as trade agreements, but they aren't trade agreements; they are treaties to protect foreign investments. This is very bad and very unhealthy.
Let me give you the example of New Brunswick, which has already thought about the possibility of establishing a public auto insurance plan but, further to pressure from American insurance companies, quite simply decided to back off. Even though there apparently were not many complaints under Chapter 11 of NAFTA, it is important to remember that governments are increasingly cautious. They hesitate to take action that would protect the common good and would create a society in which labour rights and environmental rights would be recognized as fundamental rights that cannot be touched.
So we are very worried and, based on what we have been able to analyze and observe since the free trade agreement with the United States, we think that Canada should not ratify the TPP agreement, mainly because of the provisions protecting foreign investments.