He waited until late Friday afternoon to announce that the Cons had ratified their controversial trade deal with China.
Hoping that most people wouldn't notice.
Ottawa confirms it has ratified a foreign investment treaty with China, more than two years after the controversial agreement was signed, as CBC News first reported Friday. The controversial Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) will come into force on Oct. 1, said International Trade Minister Ed Fast in a news release Friday afternoon.
He couldn't even wait to see if the courts would rule it unconstitutional.
And with good reason. For it is one of the greatest sellouts this country has ever seen.
A betrayal of the people of British Columbia.
As FIPA comes into force, it would have a major impact on projects such as Enbridge Northern Gateway and potentially some LNG proposals. The deal would allow Chinese investors to sue British Columbia if it changed course on the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal.
An assault on the rights of First Nations and the authority of our courts.
"Even if found unconstitutional by a court down the road...once the treaty has been ratified, none of the obligations assumed by Canada can be modified unless China agrees," he said.
One that makes absolutely no economic sense...
Although proponents argue that the deal would protect Canadian businesses and create jobs, critics say FIPA would be inevitably skewed in China's favour because Chinese investment in Canada is much larger than Canadian ownership in China. Chinese companies have invested over $30 billion in Canada's energy industry alone. Canadian direct investment in China in all sectors totalled $4.2 billion in 2012.
And one that as Elizabeth May points out will make us prisoners of the Chinese for at least 31 years.
“Once ratified, the Canada-China Investment Agreement will bind Canada, including future governments, for a minimum of 31 years. Unlike NAFTA, with an exit clause of 6 months’ notice, this agreement, also called a FIPA (Foreign Investor Protection Agreement) cannot be exited for the first 15 years. After 15 years, either country can exit on one year’s notice, but any existing investments are further protected for another 15 years. Despite some claims by other politicians that the treaty could be voided by a future government, that is not the case.”
“The only way to exit the treaty would be through negotiations with China in which the government in Beijing agrees. Unilateral withdrawal would trigger a multi-billion dollar claim by the Peoples Republic of China against Canada, with damages open to collection in one hundred countries around the world.”
Can you believe it? Those scummy bastards have locked us into bondage, and sold this country down the drain...
And why is Harper rushing this deal through now? Answer: so he can visit China in November and continue his relentless pursuit of the ethnic vote.
Sound familiar?
For THAT he would sell our country.
Oh boy. Look we may not be able to anything about that foul deal, but we can do something about those sellout Cons.
While we work with partners to review the legal options, we want to make sure key voters know the Harper Conservatives ratified FIPA behind our backs, and set the stage to make them pay at the ballot box in the next election. Canadians deserve to know, and if Harper won’t tell them, we will.
Sign that petition or this one. Organize, protest, let everyone know what they have done.
And above all prepare to defeat them in the next election.
Call them sellouts, call them TRAITORS.
Tell them enough is ENOUGH.
And they are good to GO...
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16 comments:
Sign for sure Simon. And remember the Liberals also sold out and support FIFA. A great betrayal: Trudeau and the Liberals voted for Harper's sell-out FIPA - http://ln.is/go.shr.lc/60aNU
And see this: Justin Trudeau and Liberal Party take heat for defeating FIPA motion http://www.vancouverobserver.com/politics/justin-trudeau-and-liberal-party-take-heat-defeating-fipa-motion
I have always shaken my head at this "trade" agreement. The optics of binding Canada to a 30 year deal with China seems like a bizarre joke.
I wonder what the "foriegn workers program" will look like in 5, 10 15 years.
Will we become so reliant on foriegn workers we will become like the US farmers. Illegal immigrants working in the fields to "bring in the crops" with a "wink wink nudge nudge" to the authorities.
Well an election must be called within the next 12 months. Thats a small consolation.
Unfortunately its too late to reverse this . Its done. Like a lot of other decisions Mr Harper has made.
Well hopefully the Chinese will invest hundreds of billions of their hard earned tax dollars into building our infrstructure up. I'm thinking of power plants, roads, airports, etc that do not now exist that will be created . When the deal is over , most of that infrastructure will remain. Sort of like when the US pushed the Alaska Highway through the wilderness during the 2nd world war.
China has currently set up the same deal with several African countries to for raw materials and interestingly enough....to grow food. China's weather is drying up thousands of acres per year , rivers are running dry and they are worried about no longer being self sufficient in staples like rice.
Wars will be fought over food in the future.
30 years may seem like a long time but it goes by frighteningly fast.
The oil spills are a different matter. But. make no mistake. The current govt in BC is secretly clapping its hands at the idea of being able to blame the completion of the pipeline on anyone but themselves.
"Sorry, we have to finish it. Or the Chinese will sue us.".......... Dont think they arent smiling over THAT.
A percentage of the Oil revenue "cut" will turn BC's politicians into the Whores of Babylon.
Oil....... a curse and a blessing, all wrapped into one package.
Barring a miracle, I won't be here to see the end of this. At 87, I am glad I won't have to witness much more of what this unspeakable Prime Minister of Canada has already done and continues to do to the country in which I was born and grew up. A country of which I have always been so proud. Having spent about a third of my life in each: east coast, west coast and Ontario, I am Canadian through and through. Harper has made a start at ruining every corner of this great land and I loathe him for it. FIPA will probably guarantee the ruination of the rest. I've hiked the forests, canoed the lakes, driven across the prairies and proudly endured the winters.
I won't say what I'd like to see happen to Harper, but I do wish the very best to my children, grandchildren and great-grands. May you have a good life in what was the best country in the world and please, fight for Canada's survival as a great nation.
Harper Gov't 'Conceded to China' under Pressure: Treaty Expert
http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/09/13/Harper-Conceded-to-China/
Harper OKs Controversial Investment Treaty with China
http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/09/12/Canada-China-FIPA-Ratified/
I have no idea why Harper isn't tried, as a traitor doing acts of treason against Canada and the people?
If China is permitted to sue Harper's Canada if, anyone ties to block China's takeover of our country? Then I say? Let us give Communist China many reasons, to sue Harper's Canada. This country doesn't belong to us anymore and I don't care if Communist China sues the @$$ of Harper's Canada.
Communist China is already destroying BC, the ancient forests are being hacked down. Those 400 year old Douglas Firs near Port Alberni, are under attack. China has been after BC's ancient forests, for quite some years. Communist Chinese are taking Canadian resources and resource jobs. Ditzy Christy Clark gave the Communist Chinese, the jobs building the LNG plant, near Prince Rupert. Petro-China owns the Enbridge pipeline. Chinese own the mines in Northern BC.
Harper has his police state. They trained RCMP snipers on the F.N. guarding their waters, against the vile Imperial Metals that destroyed Mount Polley, when the catastrophic dam burst, at that mine. I think the RCMP, should change their shirt color to Brown.
Communist China has polluted much of their farmland and 40% of their water. Dead pigs come floating down China's rivers. Can you imagine what Canada will look like, after 31 years of Communist China occupation? China fouled and dirtied their own country now, we can have dead pigs floating down Canada's rivers. Because China can't feed themselves, they will also take our food crops.
Recall Harper's evil words? I am the law. I make the rules. And, by the time I get through with this country, you won't recognize it. That is for sure. Never has Canada been under Communist rule. Most Canadians don't want that hateful Communist China on our soil, what-so-ever. Harper just had another sneak meeting with Red China behind our backs, as usual.
Good gawd!! Now the coward Harper's security bill will likely quadruple. It just doubled, not that long ago? Wonder why, Harper is such a paranoid control freak?
Harper cheated to win the election. He is a traitor to Canada, doing acts of treason to Canada.
I have a wonderful idea? Let us ask Putin, to save us from Harper. Mind you? Harper is the front man for, the New World Order. Harper was chosen because, he is a sociopath and full of pure utter evil.
Do not make things up. The Cons are already doing that and I am sorry that you do not like the liberals but to be honest with you, I do not like the Dippers as well especially Mulcair. He is so far down in the polls likely because of Mulcair who is acting like Harper more and more everyday. I do know that Simon is an NDP he and that he will support anyone other that can rid Harper. even the liberals if he thinks that by doing so will throw Harper out of office and the PMO
I've read some stuff from Left Wing Loons before, but you really take the cake.
I can imagine the size of the TIN FOIL HAT you must be wearing.
So who cares. The fucking CONs can pay them. Take the settlement out of the CON party coffers and Harpo's pension checks. There is no way in hell that that pipeline is going to get built and if they manage to force it through there is no way it will be allowed to open and operate.
hi jan and marie...you are both right. Justin Trudeau's position on FIPA, is not one I support, my heart is with the NDP, but if I have to I will support the leader who can best defeat the Harper Cons. I know this drives both my NDP and liberal friends crazy. But I expect that if a progressive party wins the next election it will probably depend on the other to stay in power, so we need someone who can build bridges between the two of them, so I volunteer... ;)
hi anon...yes you make a number of good points, the most distressing one of which is the way Christie Clark would love to be forced to accept the Northern Gateway pipeline. And yes these so-called free trade deals are just a way of giving corporations the power to do what they want, and make the rich richer by making the rest of us poorer. They are incredibly destructive to the social fabric and the environment, and they would take us all on a race to the bottom. I've always felt that way, and I dream of a great convulsion when we can eventually destroy them and put people before profits...
hi daxiowner...don't you even think of departing before we beat the Cons. It won't be much longer I promise you. And in a country where so many seniors support the Cons you are a truly precious person. So you can clap your hands or play the piano or whatever, and I'll put on my dancing shoes and we'll celebrate together... ;)
hi anon...I wish to make it clear that I have no quarrel with the Chinese people. I am a great admirer of their amazing history and culture. One of my greatest Canadian heroes Dr Norman Bethune is buried there, and I would give anything to visit his grave and lay some red flowers on it. And of course I absolutely LOVE Chinese food. My quarrel is with their rapacious Communist/Capitalist government which is just as Con as ours is, and just as despicable. They're all part of a giant conspiracy to enslave us, and I will fight all of them until the day of justice finally arrives...
hi Dave...actually I don't have a tin foil hat, I have a simple and very Canadian tuque. Can't you see what I'm wearing in my avatar???? But you are a right-winger who just joined blogger two weeks ago, has no blog and seem to exist for the sole purpose of being a Con troll. How much is the PMO paying you for your comments a nickel for each one? And if I strike you as a Left Wing Loon, well I'm obviously doing something right....
hi gragor...well actually we do need to care because that deal removes our power to stop projects we don't like. And the Cons won't pay, we will, or our elected governments. And if the provinces are forced to pay it could ruin some of them, or mean less money for other things, such as medicare.But the good news a lot of Cons don't like the deal either including people like Jason Kenney. And we can use the deal to damage them greatly in the next election....
if Canada signs "that agreement" with china we are so fucked. then I really do hope Quebec leaves Canada. then I will have some place to move to, because I do not want to live in a Canada controled by China's government/army/corporations. The U.S.A. isn't much of an alternative so Quebec as a sovereign state it will be.
what I find so interesting is harper came to office having all sorts of nasty things to say about China and its human rights abuses and the next thing we know, they're his best buddy. Like what happened? Did money change hands or is it purely ideological.
harper makes much of Russia "invading" Ukraine, but says nothing about China's invasion of Tibet, and its abuses of its citizens.
harper declares himself a "Christian" yet doesn't seem to concern himself with abuses of Christians in China. either he thinks the abuse is o.k., he isn't a Christian, or money above all.
This deal ties Canada to China for a min. of 15 yrs. That is not a good thing. At least with the Americans we can get out of it on some what short notice. For 15 yrs China can rape our land, exploit our resources, destroy our environment and we will be unable to stop it because it will impede their corporations ability to make money. this will not bode well for some of us in B.C. In the Comox Valley there are 17 applications for coal mines. Some in very environmentally sensitive areas, like the water shed, right above a sound where we have shell fish, etc.
Under the free trade agreement China will be able to bring in their own workers and we won't be able to do anything about it.
This is going to work just so well for someone, just not Canadian citizens and residents. We can only hope the opposition parties do all they can to stop this and perhaps a few cons may recognize they ought not to sell their own country to China. of course some may benefit so who can count on them.
The cons never did seem to give a rats ass about Canada, now they are going to prove it. In the end even the con base in Alberta will be screwed, when they find they have no control over their own province.
It may actually give Quebec the push to leave Canada. The free trade agreement with China may well negatively impact their language rights. Hey I'd learn French in a heart beat, if it meant I could live there and not in a Canada controlled by China.
This is so not going to end well for Canada. We have only to look how it has impacted countries in Africa.
I just have to say FREEDOM..
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