Good morning. Thanks very much for making this opportunity available.
I'm speaking this morning as a northern resident and the co-chair of the NWT chapter of the Council of Canadians. As you may know, the Council of Canadians is an advocate of social and environmental justice, a healthy democracy, and fair trade. The TPP undermines all of those values and must not be ratified. The TPP will constrain governments in areas that have little if anything to do with trade but lots to do with a fair and just society and a healthy democracy.
Here in the NWT, the TPP will undermine hard-fought battles to recognize indigenous rights and title, achieve the equality of all citizens, and honour the interdependence of northerners, the land, and the natural environment.
There can be no equality or justice when the TPP puts corporate rights above the rights of Canadians and above the rights of indigenous nations. There can be no fair trade when foreign companies have more rights to make profit than local or indigenous companies and when buying local is prohibited.
There can be no social or environmental justice when chapter 20 of the TPP offers only vague and mainly unenforceable commitments to environmental protection.
The TPP offers no new environmental standards, but offers the opportunity for corporations to sue governments if new standards are introduced to correct the current general state of environmental lawlessness in Canada and here in the NWT.
Further, there is no hope for policies and legislation that will help us cope with the devastating effects of climate change—which, incidentally, is not mentioned anywhere in the environmental chapter. The absence of recognition of climate change will create even greater injustices, especially here in our fragile northern environment.
There can be no social justice when the TPP can weaken and obstruct the vibrancy of our public health care system. Already at least 23% of Canadians can't afford prescription drugs, but the TPP will extend patents and boost brand name drugs, further burdening our health care system, causing Canadians to pay even higher drug costs and causing more Canadians to suffer because they can't afford prescription drugs.
The TPP will likely quash any hope of a national pharmacare plan that would save Canada about $11 billion annually. Because there are no carve-out provisions or basic safeguards to guard our health regulations, any legislative change to improve responses to system or demographic needs are vulnerable to investor state challenges.
Lack of public stewardship of our health care has the potential to hit the NWT very hard, as we struggle to find innovations to achieve equitable quality services in all 33 of our communities.
There can be no healthy democracy when the TPP allows corporations to bypass domestic courts and sue us for changes to public policies and public laws that threaten their corporate profits. These compensation lawsuits are adjudicated by largely unaccountable secret tribunals. By ratifying the TPP, parliamentarians and judges might as well shut the doors and go home, because they won't be needed.
The TPP will threaten local economies and local food systems, invade our privacy, increase education costs, and put restrictions on crown corporations. All these threats will diminish the quality of life here in the NWT and throughout Canada.
Negotiated in secret with corporate lobbyists, the TPP is a made-in-America corporate rights deal that will cost Canadians and our democracy and our environment dearly. It should not be ratified. Please reject it.
Thank you.