Dear Sir,
I am writing to express my disappointment at the recent Town Hall Meeting with Christy Clark.
I was one of the first people to raise my hand with a question and the youngest person in the audience to do so. Astoundingly I was overlooked by the moderator and never given an opportunity to speak. This did not go unnoticed by the crowd as many people approached me afterwards with concerns about this fact.
The concern I wished to raise was with regards to the trade agree being negotiated between Canada and the European Union called the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) which they hope to sign by the end of this year.
This is a big deal for Canadians. CETA threatens our democracy by putting corporate rights first, will encourage privatization of drinking water services and opens the door to privatization of vital public services.
Under CETA local job creation and “buy-local” policies could be prohibited and big corporations could ignore or challenge environmental regulation.
This deal will even impact our health care system by making it harder to expand or improve medicare and home care services as well as causing drug costs to skyrocket. In fact it?s the first time a trade agreement will include municipal activities like purchasing, infrastructure and the delivery of municipal services.
I was going to ask Premier Clark to lobby the federal government to immediately halt negotiations on this deal and reaffirm her commitment to protecting our families and jobs, ensuring our communities and the services we value are not for sale.
In Solidarity
Maggie Braun
Canadian Action Party
Terrace, B.C.