Senator Bernie Sanders: The Trans-Pacific Trade (TPP) Agreement Must be Defeated
www.sanders.senate.gov, accessed 9 September 2015

. . . while Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry and major media companies have full knowledge as to what is in this treaty, the American people and members of Congress do not. They have been locked out of the process.

. . . all Americans, regardless of political ideology, should be opposed to the “fast track” process which would deny Congress the right to amend the treaty and represent their constituents’ interests

. . . The TPP follows in the footsteps of other unfettered free trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA and the Permanent Normalized Trade Agreement with China (PNTR). These treaties have forced American workers to compete against desperate and low-wage labor around the world. The result has been massive job losses in the United States and the shutting down of tens of thousands of factories. These corporately backed trade agreements have significantly contributed to the race to the bottom, the collapse of the American middle class . . .

. . . It is part of a global race to the bottom to boost the profits of large corporations and Wall Street by outsourcing jobs; undercutting worker rights; dismantling labor, environmental, health, food safety and financial laws; and allowing corporations to challenge our laws in international tribunals rather than our own court system. If TPP was such a good deal for America, the administration should have the courage to show the American people exactly what is in this deal, instead of keeping the content of the TPP a secret. . . .

1. TPP will allow corporations to outsource even more jobs overseas.

. . . TPP includes rules that will make it even easier for corporate America to outsource call centers; computer programming; engineering; accounting; and medical diagnostic jobs . . .

. . . As a result of NAFTA, the U.S. lost nearly 700,000 jobs. As a result of Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China, the U.S. lost over 2.7 million jobs. As a result of the Korea Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. has lost 70,000 jobs. The TPP would make matters worse by providing special benefits to firms that offshore jobs and by reducing the risks associated with operating in low-wage countries. . . .

2. U.S. sovereignty will be undermined by giving corporations the right to challenge our laws before international tribunals.

The TPP creates a special dispute resolution process that allows corporations to challenge any domestic laws that could adversely impact their “expected future profits.”

These challenges would be heard before UN and World Bank tribunals which could require taxpayer compensation to corporations.

This process undermines our sovereignty and subverts democratically passed laws including those dealing with labor, health, and the environment

. . .

6. Buy America laws could come to an end.

The U.S. has several laws on the books that require the federal government to buy goods and services that are made in America or mostly made in this country. Under TPP, foreign corporations must be given equal access to compete for these government contracts with companies that make products in America . . .

8. Wall Street would benefit at the expense of everyone else.

Under TPP, governments would be barred from imposing “capital controls” that have been
successfully used to avoid financial crises . . .

Read the whole statement

My Summary of Concerns for Canada also:
a) Secrecy about the contents.
b) Zero democratic representation about the treaty.
c) Loss of sovereignty – any law can be challenged in special tribunal process by corporations.
d) Competing with desperately low wages overseas and slave conditions.
e) Shipping even more jobs overseas: service jobs and manufacturing jobs. What jobs are going to be left?! Think about it.
f) Challenges to environmental laws and standards (and food safety) (not by citizens democratically, but by “special” corporate people who say they lose profits). So never mind passing any laws about certain topics.
g) Challenges to labour laws and standards (not local challenges by citizens).
h) Challenges to laws intended to prevent financial instability.
i) Governments won’t be able to give contracts to only domestic businesses.

That last point is so simple. How can a government pretend to boost the local economy and care about its own citizens when it is under such massive so-called free trade treaties such as NAFTA and TPP!? Think about it! Seriously. Please reconsider your assumptions about your government and what they’re up to. They are COMMITTED to creating a global government, and they’re not asking our opinion. They’re not talking about this during the Canadian election, are they? Politicians will play innocent to the bitter end. Some of them know they’re part of something that undermines us, but I suppose many of them are naive and follow along with the propaganda like the rest of us. They’re all part of a gang with an agenda and they do what the gang tells them to do. That’s why the TPP is being prepared.