mr president there has not been any assessment of the social environmental and economic effects of an economic agreement between the european union and canada
the canadian union of public employees with six hundred zero members in areas such as health care education local municipalities public utilities and transport is seriously concerned about the effects of such an agreement
the national union of public and general employees with three hundred and forty zero members in canada in the public and private sectors is equally concerned as is the public service alliance of canada with one hundred and sixty-five zero members
these workers are concerned because they understand that such an agreement will be implemented primarily in the economic interests of big business in both canada and in the european union and not primarily in the interests of working people or of social justice
now both the european and canadian transnational corporations want to break into the provision of public services in canada on a maximisation-of-profit basis of course
they see an eu-canada agreement as a vehicle to force extensive privatisation in areas like public transport water provision and electricity
such a development would be ominous for canadian workers pay and conditions
it could be the beginning of a race to the bottom in exactly the same way as we have seen in europe where the eu commission itself endorses the rights of private companies providing services to exploit workers as proven when the commission took the luxembourg state to court for wanting migrant service workers to be given the same protection as luxembourgish workers
now canadian water is a particular target of the water multinationals
some eu-based multinationals previously wreaked havoc in countries such as bolivia with water privatisation and their baleful influence is already being felt in canada
happily ordinary people in canada are prepared to fight to protect their public water provision
they will need to be vigilant
the european public sector workers trade unions are also concerned and i call on both canadian and eu-based unions to forge a real campaign to protect public ownership in public services with democratic control rather than maximisation of private profit but not just a coming together at leadership level but a real involvement of the rank and file to protect their public services
