|
October 13, 2012 - No. 38 25th Anniversary of Annexationist Free Trade with the United States Harper Dictatorship Denounces "Free Trade Deniers" 25th
Anniversary
of
Annexationist
Free
Trade with the United
States 25th Anniversary of Annexationist Free Trade with the United States Harper Dictatorship Denounces "Free Trade Deniers"    Mr. Ed Fast, the Harper government's Minister of International Trade and the Asia-Pacific Gateway denounced as "timid and inward-looking" any Canadian who questions free trade. At a speech in Toronto, October 3, Fast said "free trade deniers" are threatening Canada's economic future. He said the remnants of these "deniers" force him to report that not all is "rosy" because these "activists ... slavishly oppose our efforts to open up new markets for Canadian entrepreneurs." The Harper minister directed his boorish comments at Canadians who question yet another free trade deal, this time with the European Union. Canadians from all social classes have serious reservations about the pending Canada-European Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), not the least of which is the secrecy surrounding the agreement and lack of public control over the decision-making process.
Fast then broadened his attack suggesting that 25 years ago, "These very same anti-trade activists claimed that a trade agreement with the U.S. would wipe out millions of jobs, hollow out our economy, compromise Canada's sovereignty over its fresh water, and cause us to lose our Canadian culture." "None of these claims came true" Fast asserted. Aside from his inflammatory invective, the Harper minister frames the issue from a perspective of trade as good or bad. This reminds Canadians of former president Bush's warmongering rhetoric, "You're either with us or with the terrorists." For Fast it becomes, "You're either for trade or against trade."
The freedom of the global monopolies to use free trade under their control to oppress and exploit the peoples of the world exists in opposition to trade for mutual benefit amongst the peoples of the world. Depriving the global monopolies of their monopoly right to trade freely without restriction, so that they are no longer free to oppress and exploit the peoples of the world and their natural resources, would open up public right to have trade for mutual benefit.
Mr. Fast is mostly concerned with the growing number of
Harper deniers
who want to stop his dictatorship and put Canada on a path of economic
self-reliance based on the recognition of the rights of all,
manufacturing and trade for mutual benefit. The Harper deniers are
organizing
to
deprive the global monopolies of their reign of free trade and monopoly
right
to exploit not only Canada's working class and natural resources but
also the
working people and natural resources of all countries. Depriving U.S.
imperialism and others of the financial oligarchy of their monopoly
right to
exploit and strive for domination is a task of the Canadian people
together
with all others around the world for our mutual benefit.
The Free Trade Agreement -- 25 Years LaterTwenty-five years ago on October 4, 1987, Canada agreed to the terms of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States. The FTA was signed by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and U.S. President Ronald Reagan on January 2, 1988 and came into force on January 1, 1989. In 1994, five years after the signing of FTA, Canada signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
"Key elements of the agreement included the elimination of tariffs, and the reduction of many non-tariff barriers, and it was among the first trade agreements to address trade in services. It also included a dispute settlement mechanism for the fair and expeditious resolution of trade disagreements. Of particular importance to Canada was the fact that the FTA established a ground-breaking system for the binational review of trade remedy determinations, providing an alternative to domestic judicial review. In practical terms, Canada and the U.S. agreed to remove bilateral border measures on traded goods, which included the removal of tariffs on goods such as meat products, live animals, wine, clothing and textiles, as well as most agricultural products." In this way the Harper government dismisses the reality that the FTA paved the way for the subsequent annexation of Canada into the United States of North American Monopolies. Every aspect of the agreement and the subsequent NAFTA are mystified. It maintains that "free" trade will benefit society while the monopolies exercise dictate over an economy organized to serve private interests. It makes trade the basis of prosperity, not the development of a self-reliant economy. It repeats the fiction that the FTA would end trade wars and protectionism, despite all the water now under the bridge showing that the fights between the most powerful monopolies that control the economy continue to intensify. But the most important illusion is that the FTA, NAFTA and the agreements that followed were trade agreements. When the FTA was worked out 25 years ago, the government of Canada settled with the U.S. exactly how the Canadian economy should be restructured. They agreed on which areas should develop, where the capital should flow and which sectors should be abandoned and allowed to die. The pamphlet Historic Free Trade Agreement vs. Self-Reliance and Equal Trade for Mutual Benefit[1] stated at that time:
"What is most painful about this historic agreement on free trade is that it hands over not only the present but the future course of Canada to the U.S. It is wrong to call it a trade agreement. In our view it is an agreement to take a giant step towards the economic takeover of Canada by the U.S. The U.S. already exercises military control through NORAD and NATO; political control will remain in name only, so that the Americans may not have to install their viceroy here. The agreement, moreover, pays no attention to the aspirations of the people, their strivings, their worries and concerns. On the contrary, it calls on them to take sides at the cost of their own interests." The signing of the FTA was one aspect of the anti-social offensive inspired by the election of Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Reagan in the U.S. In 1991, this offensive gave rise to the declaration that all nations and states must submit to "shock therapy" and implement the three-pronged platform of a free market economy, multi-party system and its own brand of "human rights." Any country which does not submit is declared a "rogue state" and therefore according to the imperialists it is fair game for aggression, regime change, assassination and unconcealed black ops of every kind.
Where do things stand today, 25 years later? The old Canadian nation-building project has been destroyed and private interests are politicized while the people are depoliticized. The anti-social, anti-worker Harper agenda is based on eliminating everything which stands in the way of naked monopoly right and the triumph of private interests. When the FTA was signed, U.S. President Ronald Reagan was delighted with the agreements on energy, as was Alberta's Premier Peter Lougheed who was co-chair of the free trade lobby. The agreement involved both schemes for privatization of publicly-owned energy resources, and a guarantee that Canada would serve to provide the U.S. war machine with a "secure" source of energy.
The challenge facing the working class is to take up its role as the only social force which can lead the Canadian people in establishing the new nation-building project. The foundation of the new is the recognition of the rights of all by virtue of being human and the sovereignty of nations. A new direction for the economy must be established based on a self-reliant economy with manufacturing as the base and trade for mutual benefit, which necessitates withdrawal from the FTA, NAFTA and other agreements. Such a new Canada is based on the right of Canadians to exercise decision-making in all aspects of political life and the socialized economy. A modern Canada where the people are the decision-makers and collectively stand as true champions of what is best in the world will establish relations with others on the same basis. This requires withdrawal from the aggressive military pacts NATO and NORAD. Note 1. The pamphlet is a reprint of articles by Hardial Bains published under the name B. Paul that first appeared in the New Weekly Magazine in 1987.
What Was Historic About the Free Trade Agreement?The government of Brian Mulroney used the word "historic" to describe the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiated in 1987 between Canada and the United States and this has been dusted off by the Harper dictatorship. The 25 intervening years have confirmed that in one sense the FTA was indeed "historic" in that the old raison d'état of the Canadian state was finished. The late nineteenth century nation-building project of John A. MacDonald was based on establishing an internal market for British colonialism. MacDonald's policy involved a tariff to protect the British market for manufactured goods in Canada, building of the railways and settlement of the west. MacDonald's National Policy was transformed after the Second World War into a project to develop a U.S. branch-plant economy. During the Cold War, the U.S. encouraged the expansion of Canadian manufacturing in various ways as a branch-plant economy with exports mainly going to the U.S. The signing of the Free Trade Agreement signalled the end of this project and the restructuring of the Canadian economy consistent with the new arrangements the U.S. was putting into place. With the end of the Cold War the U.S. became the sole superpower -- and as such its plans involved intensifying the exploitation and robbery of the working people of Asia, Africa and Latin America. More and more manufacturing throughout both Canada and the U.S. was off-shored with the exception of industries key to the U.S. war machine such as military hardware and the aircraft industry. According to the U.S. and its Canadian partners, Canada would concentrate on the service sectors and its traditional role as supplier of semi-refined products and raw material such as oil, natural gas, raw bitumen, electricity, raw logs and minerals. The agreement was "historic" not in the positive sense of breaking new ground to solve the problems facing the Canadian people, but in taking a giant step towards annexation of Canada into what subsequently emerged as a United States of North American Monopolies. The Liberals opposed the FTA while in opposition, but on winning the election in 1993 they embraced it and signed NAFTA, extending the agreement to Mexico.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of agreement between the negotiators of the FTA, the political pundits pose the question as being "for" the free trade agreement or "for" the old status quo that no longer exists. They heap praise on those responsible for the nation-wrecking which has ensued, including themselves. In other words, the new situation is a fait accompli and everyone should get used to it. This reveals the utter bankruptcy of the economic and political elite which is so determined to maintain its domination and class privilege no matter what. Neo-liberal globalization can only offer war and fascism. What is truly historic is the nation-building project where the working class takes up the challenge to build a people's Canada. Only the working class can lead in the creation of the new based on defence of the rights of all and a new direction for Canada to make it fit for human beings and without war and exploitation!
The Sellout of CanadaThe Harper government is loudly singing the praises of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, an agreement which 25 years ago had the main purpose of tightening the hold of the U.S. monopolies over the Canadian economy. Continuing enthusiastically down the path of utter servility, the Harper government is currently seeking further free trade deals with Europe, India and Pacific Rim nations. In his official statement, Minister of Trade Ed Fast asserted on October 3 that anyone who suggested that free trade had not been of great benefit to the Canadian people was a "free trade denier," obviously trying to portray those who oppose the sellout of Canada to foreign interests as totally irrational. The ruling circles even dusted off Brian Mulroney, the Conservative Prime Minster who signed the sellout deal in 1987, and ensured that the monopoly media praised him as a "great statesman" and "tough negotiator" for falling to his knees before the financial oligarchy.
It is important to note that one of the most destructive and anti-people, anti-worker effects of free trade has been the wrecking of Canadian manufacturing. This has destroyed many livelihoods, communities and lives. Again, the figures tell the tale. "In the first two years of the FTA, 200,000 manufacturing jobs disappeared. A partial recovery occurred in the mid-nineties but during the last decade, the wrecking of manufacturing has accelerated. Statistics Canada reports that from the low 20 per cent range of manufacturing relative to the total GDP prior to free trade, the percentage fell steadily to 15.6 per cent in 2005 and down further to 13 per cent by 2010."[2] An important current example of the wrecking caused by free trade is the concessionary demands of the Big Three auto manufacturers whose owners are threatening to move auto production to the U.S., Mexico or elsewhere if the workers in Canada do not accede to their demands. Many other foreign monopolies are using the same strategy of blackmailing the workers and their allies: either do what we say or we will devastate your community and your living. History will condemn Mulroney and all who followed him for considering that all areas of economic, social, and cultural life are up for international barter. The political rule of free trade and its unrestricted movement of capital give the global monopolies the freedom to wreck the economy, privatize or otherwise degrade social programs, change regulations governing corporate behaviour, and do whatever else serves their narrow monopoly interests. Even though everything is up for grabs under free trade, the pundits of globalization still insist that not only has free trade supposedly benefited the Canadian people but also that there is no possible economic path for Canada other than to embrace free trade and give up sovereignty. Neo-liberal globalization, the people are told, is inevitable! There is no other way, particularly at this time in history, so give up the search and the fight for an alternative. However this is certainly not the case. There is an alternative to free trade which is in the interests of the working class and people and not the monopolies. That alternative is self-reliance and trade for mutual benefit.
Trade among nations is important and necessary and is a fact of present-day life. But it should be based not on the benefit of individual owners of production but on the mutual benefit of the people of both nations. Real free trade is possible only when there are free nations and free peoples. Currently there are powers such as the U.S. that threaten the freedom and independence of the peoples, which is a dangerous situation. Free trade under current conditions is not free trade but forced trade. That means that for trade to be mutually beneficial it must not be "free" but carefully planned and negotiated by all parties involved. That is the only way that trade can help ensure prosperity and the development of self-reliant economies. Under current conditions, free trade only places Canada further under the control of the monopolies which use free trade as a weapon to penetrate other countries and seize control of their economic life. That is why it must always be kept in mind that the critical factor is a self-reliant economy. International trade for mutual benefit is important but not decisive. Prosperity is mainly achieved through internal measures, one of which is establishing self-reliance in the economic sphere. International trade can help but no prosperity can be guaranteed without building a self-reliant economy. That is why the monopolies oppose self-reliance in the economic sphere and instead want all to be dependent on them. That is also why prosperity for the people of Canada requires the people, led by the working class, to put an end to all foreign control of the Canadian economy and to build in its place an economy based on self-reliance.[3] Note 1. TML Daily, September 29, 2012 - No.
36.
For Your Information Canada's Free Trade AgreementsFree Trade Agreements in Force1987: Agreement is reached on the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement 1988: Free Trade Agreement is signed by leaders from Canada and U.S. 1989: Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA) enters into force 1994: North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) supersedes CUSFTA, includes Mexico 1995: Canada joins World Trade Organization (WTO) 1997: Agreements with Israel, Chile 2002: Agreement with Costa Rica 2009: Agreements with European Free Trade Association (EFTA), Peru 2011: Agreement with Colombia Negotiations Concluded2009: Jordan (signed) 2010: Panama (signed) 2011: Honduras Ongoing Negotiations- Americas: Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) -- 34
countries - Caribbean countries: Caribbean Community (CARICOM --
15 members and 5 associate
members), Dominican Republic - Central America: Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, "modernizing" of Costa Rica agreement - Europe: European Union (Comprehensive Economic and
Trade Agreement -- CETA); Ukraine - Africa: Morocco - Asia: India, Japan, Korea, Singapore - Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): 9 countries Exploratory Free Trade DiscussionsSouthern Common Market (MERCOSUR --
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay), modernizing of Israel Agreement,
Turkey, Thailand
Read The Marxist-Leninist Daily
|
Instead of having a broad
open discussion on the matter, which is denied
even in Parliament, and allowing the public interest to flourish and
public
opinion to form on the issue, the minister of the Harper dictatorship
dismisses
Canadians who oppose or question the free trade agenda as people who
"lack
confidence" and want "a nation that cowers in the face of competition,
and a
country afraid to take up the challenges of a global marketplace." Fast
said,
"Fear-mongering and misrepresentation are [the opponents of free trade
and
CETA's] stock in trade."
Mulroney, Chretien, Martin
and Harper are all salespeople and
representatives of the global monopolies, especially those centred in
the
Anglo/U.S. Empire. Of course, they are for trade but trade under the
domination of the most powerful monopolies that serves their striving
for
world conquest and their freedom to oppress and exploit the peoples of
the
world and their resources. That was the intention 25 years ago with the
U.S./Canada free trade agreement and the formation in 1995 of the World
Trade Organization. With the aim of global monopoly domination in mind
and
as the yardstick of success, the international financial oligarchy
gloats of
achieving its goal. Neo-liberal globalization is now the rule except
for a brave
few. Economic crises, grinding poverty and war are permanent features
of
international life, and to pay the rich, the peoples of the world are
being forced
to accept austerity as their bitter future, a future the people reject
and which
they are resisting with actions with analysis and calls for a
pro-social
alternative.
Free trade under the
domination of the most powerful global monopolies
to serve their striving for world conquest is a major factor for war.
Trade for mutual benefit to serve the peoples of the world
for
development and progress is an important factor in the struggle against
war as
a means to settle disputes.
The Canadian government states on
the Foreign Affairs and International
Trade website that: "This historic agreement placed Canada and the
United
States at the forefront of trade liberalization.
"International trade, in
our view, is a very good thing.
It brings people of
various nations together and assists in raising their understanding
about each
other. But is opening Canada to foreign investments an example of
international trade? What is being traded here -- your life for their
money?
This historic agreement opens Canada's doors wide open for further
takeover
by the U.S. It does not matter what demagogy and deception are used, it
will
not do. In the same fashion, how can bartering people's culture,
education and
social and recreational activities be called an example of
international
trade?...
The anti-social offensive of
which free trade was an
important component
negates the very idea of society. It claimed that the owners of
capital, not the
workers, produce the wealth while workers are a mere "cost of
production."
At that time it was claimed that by paying the rich and turning all the
assets
of society over to private interests, prosperity would "trickle down"
to the
people. Even this has largely now been abandoned and instead the rich
and
their governments now claim that the living and working conditions of
the
working people must be reduced, unions smashed, public services
privatized
and all the remnants of the post-war social contract finished once and
for
all. Even now, however, the irrational justification is that it will
bring prosperity!
Today, Harper's agenda is
centred on resource extraction and export of
raw resources in the interests of the global oil and gas, mining and
other
monopolies who are merged with the banks and other big monopolies, and
further contribute to the wrecking of manufacturing. Trade agreements
in the
works are all in pursuit of this anti-Canadian, anti-worker and
anti-social
agenda.
The signing of the FTA signalled
the end of the post-World War II
arrangements and the social contract. Deregulation, privatization, the
degrading
of social programs and public services followed. The first phase of the
anti-social offensive was the privatization of national institutions
and publicly
owned corporations beginning with Air Canada and the Canadian National
Railway, then PetroCanada and other energy utilities. Preparations
began to
privatize
the profitable aspects of the Post Office and huge budget cuts were
made to
Canadian institutions like the CBC. This was followed by the assault on
social
programs which continues to this day. Unemployment insurance, health
care,
education and social assistance were all hit with massive reductions
in
spending, and the monopolies stepped up the demand that health care,
education and other public services that governments have a social
responsibility to provide as a right be privatized and further opened
as a
"market" to serve their insatiable greed. The rights of workers who
deliver
social programs and services came under vicious attack, including
tearing up
collective agreements and imposing anti-worker legislation.
But facts are stubborn
things and the facts show that all this phony
adulation for free trade is merely to set the stage for the further
sellout
of
Canadian sovereignty and deeper integration into the United States of
North
American Monopolies. Free trade has been solely to the benefit of the
global
monopolies, not to the Canadian people. This of course is why the
Mulroney
government, the champion of the monopolies, signed the deal in the
first place.
The actual economic figures tell the tale, a tale which refutes Harper,
Fast,
Mulroney, and all the other free trade believers. "The economic figures
since
the signing of the free trade agreement in 1987 tell a tale of rising
dominance
of the largest global monopolies. A new study by BMO Nesbitt Burns
shows
that 'total investment in Canada originating from the U.S. (in current
dollars)
rose from $76 billion in 1988 to $326 billion in 2011. During the same
period,
investment into the U.S. originating in Canada went from $55 billion to
$276
billion.'"[
It is a self-reliant
economy, not a dependent one, which will bring about
prosperity for the people. A self-reliant economy is built on a
foundation of
manufacturing and the guarantee of the well-being of the people under
all
circumstances. It requires that the Canadian people and First Nations
own and
control all natural resources. In opposition to this, the line is given
that
Canada's prosperity depends on increasing exports through free trade.
This is
because the monopolies want Canada to be merely a supplier of the raw
resources which serve monopoly interests at a particular time, e.g.,
iron ore,
timber, natural gas, raw bitumen and so on. Manufacturing is to be done
somewhere else, e.g., at steel mills in Pennsylvania or bitumen
refineries in
Texas. Once the resources are not profitable enough or of no further
use, the
monopolies pull up stakes and go elsewhere. This wrecking activity
clearly
goes against any sort of nation-building project that will serve the
long-term
interests of the people. A self-reliant economy obviously further
requires that
the Canadian people control and make all decisions that affect the
social
economy and the social and natural environment. Currently the decisions
are
made by the monopolies through the federal and provincial governments
which
purport to work in the interests of the people but in reality only
serve the
monopolies. The ongoing signing of free trade agreements is a prime
example.