Absolutely... I can't help but wonder if it's just a convenient diversion from more important things.
Some LIE-berals and Green party airheads want to distract us over the NAFTA MESS! They DO NOT WANT TO ADMIT THAT NAFTA IS A TOOL BEING USED TO HIT CDN LIE-BERAL AIRHEADS FOR THEIR REFUSAL TO BE SENSIBLE ABOUT NATIONAL SECURITY!
Here is a refresher course illustrating how diligently Cdn LIE-berals are working to sabotage NAFTA. The sad fact is that Our idiot Boy Justin and his LIE-beral pals are so hostile to Yankees generally and to Trump specifically that they are deliberately ignoring the real problem that Trump is trying to deal with- that of the tens of thousands of totally undocumented illegal aliens flooding into Canada. Trump and his people are hugely concerned that terror cells will be setting up shop in Canada while Cdn LIE-berals ignore them! Trump has quietly and carefully linked trade, open borders and national security into a package while LIE-berals ignore real concerns! LIE-berals intend that Yankees should be responsible for national security on BOTH SIDES of the border- and yet hypocrite LIE-berals are vexed that Yankees do not show `proper` respect for Cdn `culture` and sovereignty! With some comments of my own in brackets):
Canada’s NAFTA objectives include new ‘progressive’ chapters.
ANDY BLATCHFORD, THE CANADIAN PRESS. FIRST POSTED: MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2017 11:00 AM EDT | UPDATED: MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2017 11:46 AM EDT
Related Stories: With NAFTA, the Americans will be playing hardball.
(And why not? With 3000 dead in the World Trade Centre, plus hundreds more dead in various terror attacks, why should they not be concerned about Muslim terror?)
Trudeau says criticism over social issues in NAFTA talks shows Conservatives just don't get it.
(OH there is Our hypocrite Boy in full on FOOL MODE! He thinks trade is about social issues? Rather than jobs and money? And he IGNORES the reality that an open border cannot be kept open in the long term UNLESS Canada seriously steps up its vetting of security risks related to immigrants!)
OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is laying out Canada’s core objectives for the upcoming renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
In a speech Monday, Freeland shared a half-dozen NAFTA goals — including opening up access to government procurement rights, more professional movement, defending Canadian rights to supply management and reform of the investor-state dispute settlement process.
(Freeland is deluding us- but not fooling the Yankees! Why should Yankee procurement rights be any more lax than the Cdn versions? And professional movement of experts across the border is all very well- IF LIE-berals can GURANTEE that non of those traveling to United States are terrorists! It would also help if LIE-berals could guarantee that non of those Cdns traveling to the States are not actually working for Chinese, Iranian or North Korean military or corporate entities engaged in industrial espionage at Yankee expense!)
“In all these discussions, we will come to the table with goodwill, and Canada’s characteristic ability and willingness to seek compromise and find win-win solutions,” she said.
“But we are committed to a good deal, not just any deal.”
(For LIE-berals a good deal is defined as one where they get to sneer at Yankees and to hell with worried Cdns whose jobs are on the line!)
She is also calling for new “progressive” elements in NAFTA 2.0: stronger labour standards, tougher environmental protection provisions as well as chapters on gender and Indigenous rights.
(IN other words the LIE-beral position is based on a very thick smoke screen designed to STALL the negotiations until a terrorist event occurs with ties to Canada and Trump loses patience and dumps the deal so that LIE-berals can tell us “it was not their fault”!)
On that front, Canadian negotiators plan to use Canada’s recently negotiated trade agreement with the European Union as a reference, Freeland said.
“Progressive elements are also important if you want a free-trade deal that’s also a fair-trade deal,” Freeland said in a question-and-answer session following the speech at University of Ottawa.
(Oh right- the bankrupt Europeans are currently tearing themselves to pieces over economics, Carbon crap and trade scams and the sort of unrestricted immigration that Cdn LIE-berals want to see here! This is not progressive thought- it is PIG HEADED LIE-beral ARROGANCE!)
Canada’s positions will also include work to maintain key elements of the 23-year-old deal, including the process to ensure anti-dumping and countervailing duties are only applied when truly warranted.
(LIE-berals could resolve the dairy and softwood lumber troubles in a heartbeat simply by tightening up Cdn security! Why should we have to turn to the FBI to protect us when Muslim NUTS want to derail a VIA train off Highland Creek Bridge or when a radicalized Cdn goof builds a bomb and Cdn cops need FBI tips to catch the goof?)
Ottawa’s negotiating team will sit down with their American and Mexican counterparts Wednesday in Washington for the first round of talks.
Last month, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer released the Trump administration’s set of priorities for the NAFTA talks.
During the question and answer session, Freeland said she believes Canada and its NAFTA partners can find common ground on new chapters for labour, the environment, gender and Indigenous rights.
But she also warned that Canadians should brace for some tense exchanges during the NAFTA talks, in general.
(Yes- there should be some quite tense exchanges as LIE-berals taunt Trump and try to see how far they can goad him!)
“I think we all do need to be prepared for some moments of drama,” she said. “We should just see that as an expected part of any trade negotiations.”
Canada’s 10 NAFTA demands
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland released Canada’s list of key demands Monday for a new North American Free Trade Agreement as talks get set to begin in Washington later this week.
Freeland’s list, which is much shorter than the U.S. wish list of more than 100 items, includes:
— A new chapter on labour standards. The original NAFTA included a labour section as an addendum, inserted into the agreement after Bill Clinton was elected and insisted on a few changes. Some officials in Canada and the U.S. have identified a goal of tougher labour rules: Increasing Mexican wages, to make auto plants in the other countries more affordable.
(And who will pay for this Mexican wage deal? The answer is NOBODY! Higher cost Mexican car parts means higher sales of Japanese and Korean cars- with corresponding reductions in Mexican sales! Do not bankrupt Mexicans have enough trouble without LIE-berals trying to screw with their economy?)
— A new chapter on environmental standards. This was also added as an afterthought to the original NAFTA, placed there after Clinton’s election. Freeland says she wants a chapter that ensures no country can weaken environmental protection to attract investment. She also says it should support efforts against climate change.
(OH right- I guess rules on environmental standards will work nicely in bankrupt and corrupt Mexico? How do LIE-berals expect to enforce that amidst Mexican lawlessness and chaos?)
—A new chapter on gender rights.
(Gender rights? Just a red herring designed to raise Trump blood pressure!)
—A new chapter on Indigenous rights.
(Indigenous rights? Maybe LIE-berals should workj on drug abuse and rampant corruption on Cdn reserves before they get excited about lecturing Yankees?)
—Reforms to the investor-state dispute settlement process. Specifically, Freeland referred to Chapter 11 — which involves companies suing governments. She said she wants reforms so that “governments have an unassailable right to regulate in the public interest.” This is not to be confused with Chapter 19, which regulates disputes between companies over dumping, in cases like softwood lumber, and which the U.S. administration might seek to eliminate.
LIE-berals want to monkey with Chapter 11? So they can prove that LIE-berals can suck and blow at the same time? LIE-berals do not have the stable state of mind necessary to maintain any deal over long period without seriously eroding it with new rules and altered policies!)
—Expand procurement. For years, Canada has wanted to kill Buy American rules for construction projects at the state and local level. It could be a tough sell. U.S. lawmakers are demanding even more Buy American rules, which is something President Donald Trump campaigned on. Freeland said: “Local-content provisions for major government contracts are political junk food: superficially appetizing, but unhealthy in the long run.”
(With the added bonus that Buy Quebec rules are as bad as anything Yankees have on the books- and LIE-berals will not spank cheeky Quebecers for fear of losing votes!)
—Freer movement of professionals. NAFTA includes a list of professions where people can easily get a visa to work across the border. It’s an old list — it mentions land surveyors and range conservationists, but not computer programmers. International companies want this list expanded to make it easier for employees to move between offices.
(As previously stated- Yankees will allow easier movement IF Cdns tighten security- but LIE-berals will not do that- so this issue is DEAD! The other LIE-beral point set out below are merely a smoke screen designed to make the LIE-beral position look less outlandish than it is!)
—Protect Canada’s supply-management system for dairy and poultry. Canada does not have free trade in these areas, and regulates imports and prices.
—Protect cultural exemptions. Canada insisted on protections in the old agreement for cultural industries, like publishing and broadcasting. The U.S.’s annual report on international trade barriers lists this as an irritant.
—Maintaining a process to regulate anti-dumping and countervailing disputes, like the one over softwood lumber. Freeland noted that Canada briefly walked out of the original talks in 1987, as this was a deal-breaker. The U.S. says it now wants to get rid of the resulting Chapter 19. Some observers say it might simply be modified.
