What the hell is the 'New West Partnership Agreement' that 3 Premiers are sneaking around to sign tomorrow??

Saskatchewan's Premier Brad Wall is sneaking around, getting ready to sign something called the 'New West Partnership Agreement'. Unfortunately no one will tell the public what the agreement covers. The high level of secrecy going on here is fairly disturbing.

"As reported in the Regina Leader-Post on April 28, governments of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia are set to sign off on the New West Partnership by the end of the week. This interprovincial trade agreement is nothing but TILMA (the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement) with a new name and all the same negative consequences for Saskatchewan.

Following broad public consultations on TILMA in 2007, the Saskatchewan government decided not to enter into the agreement with Alberta and BC. At that time – and on numerous occasions since – Premier Brad Wall and other members of the Saskatchewan Party promised not to sign TILMA, and pledged to consult with stakeholders and the public before signing any such an agreement. Despite those promises, it appears that the Premier is about to sign an agreement that nobody has seen and about which there has been no public consultation.

On April 22 the Council of Canadians and the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, along with over 30 groups and individuals who participated in the 2007 TILMA review, sent an open letter to Premier Brad Wall calling on him to keep his promise to not sign TILMA and to undergo a legislative review and hold full and transparent public hearings on the issue before signing any interprovincial trade agreement. Our media release stated, “Saskatchewan was right to reject TILMA then, and it should reject a rebranded TILMA now … Nothing has suddenly changed to make lowest-common-denominator regulations and standards good for Saskatchewan. Nothing has suddenly changed to make giving corporations the right to sue elected governments for millions of dollars for ‘impeding trade’ – decided on by unaccountable dispute panels – suddenly a good idea for Saskatchewan.”
April 28, 2010
Council of Canadians

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