OTTAWA – Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada and Member of Parliament for Saanich–Gulf Islands, has endorsed the call that was made today by seven countries’ senior legislators for the release, before it is signed, of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement text. In doing so she joins a number of politicians from Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand and Peru who had expressed concern about the lack of transparency in the TPP negotiations.
On January 16th, the Green Party of Canada was dismayed to learn that the Canadian government has been lobbying Washington to abandon proposed environmental regulations in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Leaked documents obtained by the New York Times reveal that Canada has been pressuring the US to abandon logging regulations, a ban on the harvesting of sharks’ fins, and other environmental provisions included in a draft version of the trade agreement between Pacific Rim nations.
“Our party has long expressed concern that this secretive trade agreement threatened Canada’s ability to legislate for the good of public health and the environment,” said Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada and Member of Parliament for Saanich–Gulf Islands. “While we can no longer be shocked by Stephen Harper's aversion to all things green, to learn that the Conservatives are actually fighting US efforts to include minimal environmental controls in the agreement is beyond disheartening.”
The TPP is a proposed free trade and investment agreement between Canada, the US, and ten other Pacific Rim nations that would include drastic changes to copyright law and would grant sweeping new powers to foreign corporations operating in Canada. Negotiations between member states have been carried out in secret, and public information about the agreement is extremely limited. The TPP is opposed by the Green Parties of Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and the United States.
For more information on TPP Legislators For Transparency visit: www.tppmpsfortransparency.org
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Information:
Stéphanie Charron
Communications Coordinator
Cell: (613) 614-4916
stephanie.charron@greenparty.ca