Letter to Steve Verheul, Chief Negotiator (CETA) - Re: Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) Negotiations |
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February 23, 2010 - 15:00 Free Trade / Letter Steve Verheul Dear Mr. Verheul: Re: Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) Negotiations I am writing to follow-up on the Canada-EU negotiations briefing with groups on February 5, 2010. During this briefing, you urged people to provide their concerns to you in writing. I am attaching, for your information, a number of letters on Canada-EU negotiations that the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) sent to former International Trade Minister Stockwell Day and current Minister of State for Transport Rob Merrifield. These letters outline many of our concerns. As you may know, most of these concerns remain unaddressed (see attached responses). For example, the CUPW urged the government to resist making any commitments that would liberalize Canada Post’s postal and courier services. We asked for assurances that Canada intends to protect these services with fully effective reservations. We have not received any assurances. We also urged the government to continue to oppose any efforts to change the classification of postal and courier services, especially along the lines of the modifications that have been advanced by the EU in the GATS negotiations. Such changes, by narrowing the scope of the current protection for postal services, would almost certainly undermine our public postal system. To date, the government has not confirmed that it will continue to oppose efforts to change the classification of postal and courier services. The union also requested that the government reject any new disciplines for designated monopolies and state/public enterprises and any proposals which would put new restrictions on the regulation of postal services, including the addition of a "reference paper" or new obligations imposing so-called pro-competitive regulation on the postal sector. To date, the government has not even commented on these concerns. We believe that the public and postal workers have a right to know what the government is considering doing with our public postal service. CUPW recently received a letter from Minister Merrifield indicating that Canada Post will continue to have the exclusive privilege to handle letters, with the exception of outbound international letters. We know the EU wants outbound international letters deregulated but there is no consensus within our country that this form of deregulation is necessary or desirable. While the 2008 report of the Canada Post Corporation Strategic Review included a recommendation to deregulate outbound international mail, it did not include any analysis or rationale for making the recommendation. The report also acknowledged that there is virtually no support for postal deregulation in our country. In spite of strong opposition to postal deregulation, our government has twice attempted to deregulate outbound international letters by proposing legislation (Bill C-14 and Bill C-44). However, it has not been able to get its bills through Parliament. Bill C-14 died when the 2008 election was called and Bill C-44 died when Parliament was prorogued. We are deeply concerned that the government may attempt to make this change, and others, through the Canada-EU negotiations - in other words, to get through the back door of these treaty negotiations what it has been unable to accomplish through democratic and Parliamentary processes. CUPW requests assurances that Canada Post’s exclusive privilege to handle letters, including outbound international letters, will not be undermined as a result of Canada-EU negotiations. We would also appreciate a response to the other concerns we have raised. Thank you very much for expressing an interest in our concerns. In closing, I would like to thank you for the briefing on February 5, 2010, but I would also like to make it clear that CUPW does not consider the briefing to be meaningful consultation with the government on postal and courier services. I look forward to hearing from you and obtaining much more information about the government’s intentions with regard to postal and courier services. Yours truly, Denis Lemelin, Encl. c.c. National Executive Committee
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