[van-announce] Act Now and Tell Vancouver City Council to Stop TILMA

[Caelie Frampton]

On Tuesday June 26, 2007 the City of Vancouver will pass a motion on the
Trade, Investment, and Labour Mobility Agreement. This Agreement was
signed by BC and Alberta with NO public consultation or legislative
debate. Since municipalities can still seek to be exempt from the
agreement, it's important for Vancouver City Councillors to know TILMA is
a concern for you!


TILMA allows corporations and individuals to sue provincial governments
for any provincial or municipal government measure they feel "restricts or
impairs" their investment (i.e. their profits). Under TILMA, even measures
designed to protect the environment and housing are vulnerable to attack
from corporate lawsuits with compensation penalties as high as $5-million.

What can you do?

1- Email a letter to the mayor and council calling on the City of
Vancouver to demand that the Province to exempt municipalities from the
Agreement. Scroll down for sample letter content.

2- Come out to the city council meeting on Tuesday June 26, at 2 PM at
Vancouver City Hall (453 West 12th Ave). Let councillors know that
Vancouver residents care about the impacts this agreement will have on the
city.


WRITE A LETTER TO THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL CALLING ON THE CITY TO DEMAND THAT
THE PROVINCE EXEMPT MUNICIPALITIES FROM THE AGREEMENT.

The letters do not need to be long. Short letters, making a couple of key
points about TILMA accomplish the goal: we want to show the city council
that there is widespread opposition to this terrible agreement.

Take 10 - 20 minutes to write a letter and sent it to:
mayorandcouncil at vancouver.ca


FRAMING THE ISSUE:
The overall theme that should be part of every letter is that the City of
Vancouver should take a leadership role in asking the province to exempt
municipalities from the agreement. Further, this deal was signed in
secret, behind closed doors and is extremely anti-democratic.

Use a two or three of the following points to draft your letter.

* By allowing private companies to legally challenge our laws,
regulations, policies and programs, TILMA completely subordinates the
public good to that of private, commercial interests. In effect, we have
handed over legislative authority to the private sector because they will
have the power to initiate actions to get rid of laws and regulations they
don't like.

* TILMA effectively hands over to un-elected dispute panels the authority
to overrule democratically-made decisions. When a corporation launches a
TILMA complaint against one of our laws/regulations the validity of the
complaint is not decided by a government body - it is decided by an
independent panel of trade lawyers whose bias is to promote trade and
investment - not protect regulations.

* If a municipal by-law is challenged under TILMA, the municipality is not
allowed to be at the panel's hearings to defend its by-law.

* TILMA gives corporations the right to be compensated for up to $5
million for government policies that cost them money, even when these
policies serve the public interest. If a company can show that its profit
will be reduced because of a government law/regulation it can claim
compensation. And the same law can be challenged over and over again by
many companies. If you want to keep the law you have to keep paying for
it.

* TILMA imposes extreme limitations on what governments can do to solve
urgent problems, such as global warming. Mayor Sullivan's EcoDensity
Initiative is a great move towards reducing Vancouver's ecological
footprint, it may violate TILMA. Many local initiatives to promote green
buildings or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, for example, could be seen
to violate the basic prohibitions in TILMA. TILMA would very likely
prevent these initiatives as investors could challenge the city's by-law
saying it "restricts or impairs" its investment.

* TILMA threatens the ability of local governments to maintain planning
and other regulations necessary for the well-being of their communities.
There are some exclusions or exceptions to the agreement (laws affecting
First nations, water, energy, forests and mines) but there is no exclusion
for laws and regulations intended to enhance the quality of life of
communities - things like green space requirements of developers, height
limits on buildings, the banning of pesticides, limits on size and
location of business signs and billboards.

* TILMA prevents governments from providing targeted grants and loans to
foster local economic development and severely restricts efforts to
support local businesses through government purchasing decisions.

* TILMA creates grave new threats to the public nature of our health care,
education and other services by allowing commercial challenges to these
services. While "social services" are excluded, there is no exclusion for
education or health care so private health care companies, for example,
could use TILMA to challenge the laws limiting for-profit
health care companies.

* A similar kind of law in Oregon - this one affecting only land use
regulations - has in just two years resulted in over 6,000 claims worth
over $6 billion. Because the Oregon government has no fund to pay these
claims they have instead waived the offending laws and regulations in
virtually every case - making land use regulation virtually impossible.

* The City of Burnaby has already passed a strong motion which you can quote.
Whereas the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) was
negotiated and executive the Provincial Government without sufficient
consultation with local government. Therefore be it resolved that the
Provincial Government be asked to exempt local government from the terms
and conditions of TILMA until there has been comprehensive and open
consultation with local government and the general public into the need
for, terms of, and consequences of the Trade, Investment and Labour
Mobility Agreement.

More detailed analysis of TILMA is also available at:
http://groups.google.com/group/stoptilma/files
http://www.canadians.org/DI/issues/TILMA/index.html

http://tinyurl.com/yvsw7l

Or for more information you can call Caelie Frampton, TILMA Campaign
Coordinator, at 604-688-8846

-- 
Caelie Frampton
TILMA Campaign Coordinator
stoptilma at gmail.com
604.688.8846

Want to learn more about TILMA and how we can join together and stop this
new trade agreement?
Visit: http://groups.google.com/group/stoptilma.