Ben McDonald wants council to adopt anti-free trade stance
Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Mar 16/01) - From Yellowknife the world sometimes seems somewhere past the 'S' on the compass, a distant glint through our windshield.
But according to one city councillor, the images in our windshield are closer than they appear. What happens in the global centre alters the lives of Northerners. Change just creeps slower North of 60.
Coun. Ben McDonald believes the city should take a stand on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a 34-country free trade agreement encompassing North, Central and South America excluding Cuba.
"We have to tell the (territorial government) to take this seriously," said McDonald.
"The FTAA has a direct bearing on us," said McDonald.
"As the representative voice on the people we have the obligation to speak on it," he said.
McDonald said the city has both a lobbying and educational role in areas like free trade which on the surface seem far away but in reality impact Northern daily life.
At the next city council meeting in two weeks he is planning to put forward a motion that the city should take an anti-FTAA stance. He also wants the city to organize a public workshop on globalization and international trade.
"I'd like to see both sides presented," said McDonald.
Yellowknife Mayor Gord Van Tighem said he supports McDonald's idea of holding workshops.
"By all means," said Van Tighem.
"It's important to provide education so people can make judgments for themselves," he said.
Van Tighem said free trade agreements erode municipal powers.
The FTAA is holding its third summit since its inception in 1994 in Quebec City at the end of April.
The city is bracing for massive protests. Thousands of anti-globalization activists are expected to descend on the city to voice their concerns about the growing power of multi-national corporations which free-trade agreements are said to favour.
This is a view McDonald holds. He says the FTAA will give corporations the same powers as countries.
The Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Canada in effect since 1989 and the North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, in effect since 1994, are templates for the FTAA.
Within the FTAA countries must follow certain trade laws. These trade laws supercede a country's domestic policies including those covering the environment, health and education.
McDonald fears the FTAA could threaten services the city provides like water delivery. On a wider scale, the territory's Northern hiring and tendering practices could be killed.
"If that happens we're toast," said McDonald.
"If we want to do a local purchasing policy we can't," he said.
"The only reason were getting away with it is that no corporation has challenged us," said McDonald.
McDonald said under international trade laws (overseen by the World Trade Organization who were on the butt end of massive protests in Seattle) a service like water delivery could be classified as a commodity and the city could be forced to tender it. If it refuses a corporation could theoretically sue the city for expropriating its profits.
"(The FTAA) challenges democracy," said McDonald.
"We're going to have a world run by corporations," he said.
