Yesterday the Regina City Council received the Report of the City Soliciter respecting the potential impact on Regina of the B.C./Alberta Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA), if Saskatchewan was to sign on to the anti-democratic scheme. Leader-Post reporter Neil Scott filed this story.
There's a lot more to TILMA than just the fact it prevents cities from giving Tax Breaks to Businesses. That's the least of our worries. In fact, if that was the only thing TILMA did, I'd say "sign the sucker" - certain businesses have been getting a free-ride for too long already anyway.
But that's not all TILMA does - TILMA strips away Government's ability and responsibility to regulate and legislate in the public interest and it hands control of our democracy over to the corporate boardrooms of trans-national companies. It does this by giving corporations the ability to sue governments for up to 5 million dollars, if the corporation thinks some action by government impairs their ability to make a profit.
There isn't a company on the planet that would sign an agreement that gave that kind of control to their workers.
How about that, how about we sign an agreement that gives workers the ability to sue the companies where they work for $5 million dollars per employee if the company closes up shop and moves to Mexico?
After all, such an action by a company, because they can pay workers sweat-shop wages in certain countries, is a barrier to workers in Canada. It's a barrier to our ability to invest our time and labour to make an individual profit. It violates a workers' individual ability to trade, to invest, and (as a result) to his/her own labour mobility.
TILMA is a Massive Assault on Democracy. KNOW TILMA!
TILMA strips away Government's ability and responsibility to regulate and legislate in the public interest and it hands control of our democracy over to the corporate board rooms of trans-national companies
ReplyDeleteThere is no government wishing to exercise such responsibility. Hence nothing has been lost.
There is no federal or provincial political party in the wings which wishes to confront TILMA ideology.
Perhaps Greens with their ideal of community empowerment but that is currently entirely speculative.
I would have thought you to like TILMA. Your writings are corporate based. Doesn't labour itself gain?