MetaFilter posts tagged with nafta

NAFTA vs the British North America Act

Pseudology — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 02:18:38 -0800

NAFTA treaty may face constitutional challenge in Canada. Premier Danny Williams Of Newfoundland and Labrador, already famous for his immensely successful ABC (Anything but Conservative) campaign during the 2008 federal election, is terminating the forestry tenure of AbitibiBowater and expropriating its assets. This move came as a response to AbitibiBowater's decision to close a newspaper mill. I have reposted the Globe and Mail Article to an empty blog because soon the link will require payment to access. Original link here This is about two things. First, it's about government actually enforcing resource contracts. Lumber mills and Aluminum smelters have been closing all over Canada not because they're no longer profitable but because it became much more profitable to close the mills and sell power from the hydro plants they were only allowed to build on an implied or contractual agreement that required them to run a mill or smelter. Even written contracts haven't been enforced. Newfoundland is finally doing something to put a stop to this trend that has made resource companies buckets of money and put thousands of Canadians out of work. Secondly this is about the abuse Federal Law when it comes to international agreements. Provinces are constitutionally guarunteed the right to manage their own resources. Constitutionally, this decision cannot be interfered with by the federal government. This has been tested in the courts. But the federal government has the sole right to make international agreements. The question is, can it bind provinces to these agreements without their consent? Hypothetically it can't. But this has never been tested in the courts before. Danny Williams has unanimous popular support. If he wins this one he could probably run for Prime Minister and win by a landslide.

The Northwest Passage

Glibpaxman — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:14:23 -0800

Scientists are now revising earlier projections about the speed at which global warming will impact the arctic ice sheet. By 2013 it could very well disappear in the summer months, opening up new sea lanes for commerce and, potentially, "a quarter of the earths oil and natural gas resources". Several arctic countries are thinking ahead, while it appears others have been for quite some time.

Continental integration on the march

I, Credulous — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:34:55 -0800

A coworker hipped me to this, and I found it quite astonishing that I'd heard nothing about it.

It's a great irony that, while the United States has probably never been less popular among Canadians than in the era of George W Bush, plans to integrate Canada more deeply into the US have been proceeding at a brisk clip. The threat of Canada being absorbed into the US has traditionally provoked strong reactions here, as the pitched electoral battles over the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the 1980s and '90s attest. But the issue seems to have largely disappeared in recent years, leaving the impression that the push for deeper integration has stopped or that Canadians no longer care about it. Neither is true.

It seems that a goodly number of politically active groups are aware, however, and are organizing protests. How effective will those protests be when they won't be able to get within several kilometers of the site? Has anyone got any thoughts about this? How will they fit 52 stars on the Star-Spangled Banner? Should I don my tinfoil hat? Is the protest even relevant, given that most of the news reports I can find are calling it a fait accompli?

Goodbye NAFTA

[expletive deleted] — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 13:38:17 -0800

A slush fund for Bush, courtesy of Canada? The proposed softwood lumber deal, which would end the longstanding dispute over Canadian exports to the US, is being criticised for giving the White House $450 million, to be spent without congressional oversight.

Keeping the man down... er out.

subaruwrx — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 22:27:40 -0800

US Border Patrol attempts to build a wall between Mexico and the US. Coyotes are not worried Mexico is already coming up with plans around it and the Americans are already coming up with a way to not pay for it.

Anybody want some wood?

[expletive deleted] — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 02:39:31 -0800

Is NAFTA in danger? The United States has ignored the latest ruling on the Softwood Lumber dispute. A NAFTA panel has ruled unanimously against the duties. This is the third ruling on the matter, the previous two, supposedly binding, also being in Canada's favor. The Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, a lobby group financed by International Paper and Georgia Pacific, are behind this belligerent assault on the world's largest bilateral trade partnership. The National Association of Home Builders is calling for compliance, but protectionism still looks to be winning.

Blame Canada! Blame Canada!

troutfishing — Mon, 10 Mar 2003 05:11:20 -0800

"Toronto flings garbage at Michigan" no no!... - US Courts Canadian Crud! ...Eh?, well, OK: Toronto trucks it's tons 'o trash across the border to dump in Michigan landfills, and some Yanks are eager to buy, although others..."It's so disgusting we don't even talk about it...Why can't they keep their garbage over there?" .....[''We need to put an end to this desecration of our beautiful state,'' fumed Representative Candice S. Miller, Republican of Michigan who also warned that terrorists or weapons of mass destruction could be concealed amidst the rotting food and used diapers.] ......"Relations between the United States and Canada have been souring for two years....Canada's wishy-washy stance on the Iraq crisis...has irked Washington" chides the Boston Globe, clearly piqued that Boston is not in a position to catapult cannisters of it's garbage and toxic waste northward at Canada, towards the "Great Concavity" of David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest". [other shades of "....Jest" loom as "...a reputed haven for terror groups." whispers the Globe...just like in Wallace's book!] .....Toronto can't find any Canadian communities willing to furnish an immense garbage pit, while "Michigan's underused landfills are famous for courting crud from outside the state's borders.": They approached Toronto with the deal. ["Ontario, meanwhile, accepts imports of toxic industrial sludge, low-level radioactive waste, and other dangerous refuse from Michigan and other US states."] Garbage is a protected "free trade" commodity under NAFTA and Michigan may need the 'trash jobs': NAFTA has spurred automakers to shift production away from the US and build new factories in Canada and Mexico. Canada's auto factories are 7% more productive than US ones and have lower health care costs. ["The growth of imports to the U.S. from these factories has contributed substantially to the growing U.S. trade deficit and the related job losses."]. So: Canada sends garbage and shiny new autos south: the US sends radioactive sludge, spittle, jobs and curses north.

Meanwhile, walk across the border and the murder rate per 100,000 (per year) drops from 42.6 (Detroit, USA) to 2.2 (Windsor, Canada): "Are Canadians somehow flinging all their fear and murderous rage into the US along with the garbage?" (asks the Daily Tabloid)

NAFTA

acridrabbit — Thu, 12 Dec 2002 10:02:30 -0800

It's the ten-year anniversary of NAFTA this week. Has it been a success? [more inside].

mdn — Tue, 05 Feb 2002 08:01:22 -0800

For any unconvinced that demonstrations against corporate greed are called for, take a look at this documentary about a section of NAFTA which allows corporations to sue governments (in private tribunals) for having laws which get in the way of their profits. One current example is a canadian company suing the US gov't for an environmental law which bans their product.

raaka — Wed, 23 Jan 2002 14:38:53 -0800

Last week, the WTO ruled against a corporate welfare program for US exporters (again). This week, a Canadian hemp company claims the US owes them US$20m under NAFTA for harrassment and impinging on future returns.

Ty Webb — Mon, 22 Oct 2001 19:53:20 -0800

Talk about a Trojan Horse! The legal concept of "regulatory takings" has slowly been gaining ground in right wing circles, and is embedded in trade agreements such as NAFTA and FTAA. The idea represents nothing less than a complete subversion of democracy. (It's a longish article, but an extremely alarming one.)

taumeson — Wed, 10 Oct 2001 09:46:39 -0800

Rise of the "Investor-State"? I was reading The Nation online, and came across this article. William Greider has written a piece detailing how many conservatives in this country think that the Constitution's Fifth Amendment protections against private property being taken from individuals should apply to EVERYTHING, including government regulations. Taken to extremes, if a city want to pass an ordinance banning strip clubs from school zones, any club with even an inkling that they were going to build a club in those zones could sue the city against future POTENTIAL earnings.

Seems silly to me. What about you?

TOO LATE: IT'S ALREADY IN NAFTA. It's called Chapter 11, and it protects foreign investors/foreign companies from regulatory actions. So, for example, when California passed a bill to remove the carcinogen MTBE from gasoline in order to halt its spread into drinking water, Methanex Corporation, from Canada, sued for $970 MILLION. These lawsuits are popping up all over the place, and it's only going to get worse once the FTAA is passed.

owillis — Fri, 20 Apr 2001 12:32:05 -0800

Summit of the Americas protest ratchets up a notch Have these accomplished anything?

xiffix — Mon, 09 Apr 2001 07:11:39 -0800

NAFTA allows corporations to sue governments. UPS is suing the government of Canada for unfair competition alleging that Canada Post, a crown corporation, subsidizes its courier service, Purolator. This a revolting development, to say the least.