Hamilton's water services safe from CETA, say Council of Canadians and CUPE

Hamilton water services won't be on the table during the ongoing talks between Canada and the EU for the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, according to the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

Both groups said they have seen leaked documents that indicate that Canada's water services are being excluded from future CETA negotiations.

This is good news, said Hamilton resident Stuart Trew, National Trade Campaigner for the Council of Canadians. Trews said that had water remained on the negotiating table, CETA "could have potentially contained the means by which municipalities keep water public."  

"For us to include water in a trade agreement is extremely unsettling," said Ann Bruce, co-chair of the COC's CETA group in Hamilton, about the exclusion. "It shouldn't be traded for private gain and has to be protected for the common good."

"No one owns water," she added.

Bruce, who also co-chairs the Great Lakes Water group, said that had water been included in the final agreement, Canadians could have found themselves in the position of one day buying their own water from an international company.

Procurement issues

But while Trews and Bruce say they are pleased by the exclusion of water services from the ongoing trade negotiations, there are some additional concerns about how certain requests by Europe still under discussion could affect water in the future.

'One of the great concerns is the fact that procurement remains on the agenda.' —Ann Bruce, Council of Canadians

"One of the great concerns is the fact that procurement remains on the agenda," Bruce said.

Europe is pressing Canada to guarantee through the trade agreement that EU companies would be able to bid on provincial and municipal projects. Should the EU achieve that aim it would effectively strip municipalities of their powers to choose local suppliers, forcing them to take bids from powerful foreign corporations.

Trews cites the example that if a municipal government wanted funding to improve a sanitation system, provisions brought in under CETA might mean an "international company could dispute a municipality's decision to favour a local public route."

These types  of procurement issues go beyond water to cover a vast array of goods and services. The city of Hamilton was so concerned by the implications of procurement-related conditions being discussed in the trade negotiations that in December 2011 councillor Brian McHattie spearheaded a motion to have Hamilton excluded from CETA. 

Hamilton isn't the only city to want to opt out of CETA. It's one of 40 communities throughout Canada to pass similar motions.

For Bruce, the reasons for this are clear.

 "Local government would not be able to favour local tenders or bidders," said Bruce, referring to how European influence could forever alter how local governments in Canada govern and spend tax dollars.

"We couldn't have buy-local initiatives. International companies could bring a claim against the municipality," for favouring local business or products under such an agreement.

"Our city would be bound by these international trade agreements," she said.

For Trew, however complicated CETA negotiations are, issues surrounding procurement are simple and centre on one question: "Who has the final say in how local society develops, us or multinationals?"