CUPE Ontario and the Council of Canadians to hold speaking tour on trade Oct. 13 – Nov. 19

Ottawa – In the midst of the ‘Buy American’ local procurement controversy, ‘Say bye to buy local’, featuring Council of Canadians national chairperson Maude Barlow and CUPE Ontario President Sid Ryan, will launch in Ottawa on October 13, followed by events in Kitchener, Toronto, Sudbury, Windsor, Kingston, London, and Hamilton. The Ontario speaking tour will reveal how secret trade deals are threatening local economies, communities, jobs and the environment.

“In times like this we need our local, provincial and federal governments to be innovative and responsive to the communities they represent, as well as the international community we are all part of,” says Ryan. “We need them to recognize, like so many people already do, that many of the solutions to all these crises are going to be local solutions.”

“We are currently suffering multiple crises – an economic crisis that threatens our jobs and livelihoods, an environmental crisis that threatens our habitat, and an energy crisis that demands we move away from fossil fuels and a reliance on long-distance trade,” says Barlow. “Ontarians have a right to discuss and debate these agreements, and to have the power to modify, expand or cancel them if they’re not in the province’s interests.”

‘Say bye to buy local’ will focus on three specific trade agreements that will have significant impacts on Ontario communities: The proposed Canada–U.S. bilateral procurement agreement covering subnational governments that could be announced any day; the Ontario–Quebec Trade and Cooperation Agreement that Premiers McGuinty and Charest negotiated in secret and signed on September 11, 2009; and, the Canada–European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, negotiations for which start in Ottawa on October 19.

The impact of these internal and international agreements will be broad and often incompatible with social goods, such as stimulating local economies, maintaining a universal and publicly funded health care system, and protecting the environment.