"It looks increasingly like a present to big business at the expense of citizens
and government's ability to regulate."
Quebéc, Thursday July 17 2008 - Could the rates charged by childcare centers, by Hydro Quebec or the compensation made by the Quebec public auto insurance be deemed unfair competition, and lead to penalties by virtue of the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) now being discussed by the Premiers?
This could very well be the case according to the presidents of provincial and territorial labour federations now assembled in Quebec City in parallel to the meeting of the Council of the Federation. "We observe a strong push by a powerful business lobby to deepen the AIT's ambit and to institute a binding trade tribunal system that could impose fines on provinces. Premiers would abdicate significant authority to private interests. The Quebec Model itself could be challenged by the back door," Michel Arsenault declared on behalf of labour leaders present.
Alex Furlong, President of the Yukon Federation of Labour has spoken out against the Whitehorse Hospital Board's courtship of private partnerships. Seeking private partners to fast track expansion of the hospital facility is a prescription for financial strain on our burdened health care system.
We are pleased to report that our Town Hall Meeting Oct. 17 was a great success. Approximately 50 people attended, and had many questions for our visiting TILMA experts. We were encouraged that the meeting was attended by two Whitehorse City Councilors, despite the city's last minute cancellation of a scheduled meeting between City Council, YFL President Alex Furlong and our visiting TILMA panel. As well, the meeting was attended by members of the Liberal Caucus, the opposition party. It was encouraging to observe that members of the AYC, City Council and the Liberal Caucus were active participants in the meeting and lined up to ask questions of our panelists along with members of the public.
TILMA continues to be a hotly debated topic in the Yukon, and we are interested to note articles in both papers regularly quoting members of the business community as well as Whitehorse City Council and even the Premier of the Yukon reacting defensively to our recent spotlighting on TILMA. There is a misconception out there, fed and watered by the authors of TILMA, and promoted by some vocal members of the Whitehorse City Council and business community that TILMA will NOT impact local governments' abilities to make decisions. Any critical thinker can look beneath the surface of the flawed TILMA agreement, and read between the lines. TILMA states very clearly that there are to be NO IMPEDIMENTS to trade.
*The Union of BC Municipalities has voted almost unanimously to pressure the BC Government to reject TILMA.
"THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of BC Municipalities review the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement between British Columbia and Alberta, and enter into discussion with the provincial government and local governments,with the intent of either making changes to the agreement to more specifically address local government concerns, exempt local governments from the agreement or request that the Province withdraw from the agreement altogether.
*This decision follows the recommendation of the Saskatchewan
Urban Municipalities Association :
"If the Province of Saskatchewan does not support municipalities being a part of the
negotiations, then the cities, towns and villages in Saskatchewan should strongly
demand a complete exemptionfrom this agreement."
The Yukon Federation of Labour respectfully submits that our City of Whitehorse City Council should actively review the research materials used by the UBCM and the SUMA prior to making up their minds. We also hope the AYC continues to review TILMA .
The Yukon Government says we should trust them to let us know if TILMA is good for us. Mayor Buckway has said she would prefer to wait until the Yukon Government completes their review of the TILMA agreement before the city weighs in. Mr. Karp, president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce is happy to allow the Yukon Government to decide whether TILMA is good or bad.
