MOTION

At the Council meeting of March 13, 2001, Councillor Bass submitted the following Notice of Motion which was recognized by the Chair:

Disclosure of Draft Free Trade Agreement of the Americas File: 6001

WHEREAS Vancouver City Council has expressed repeatedly its concern about the potential intrusion of poorly-framed trade agreements on the authority and obligations of municipal and provincial governments (Multilateral Agreement on Investment-April 28, 1998; General Agreement on Trade and Services-May 2, 2000; and North American Free Trade Agreement January 30, 2001);

AND WHEREAS the case of METALCLAD versus the federal government of Mexico is now being heard in BC Supreme Court and the issues of the case finally brought into public view when Mexico appealed the final decision of the NAFTA tribunal;

AND WHEREAS the above-mentioned NAFTA tribunal decided that the investor's rights to a return on investment predominated over a municipality's rights to refuse a permit for a toxic waste dump (and that environmental considerations, popular will and the past performance of the applicant were irrelevant considerations);

AND WHEREAS the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade makes it clear that the federal government does not now plan to release the specifics of the framework of FTAA (website www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/tna-nac/) until after it has been reviewed by ministers and trade negotiators from 34 countries);

AND WHEREAS many members of Parliament have not seen the draft FTAA framework, such that, on February 15, 2001, all opposition parties (Bloc, Alliance, and NDP) voted together to gain access to the FTAA draft document but were defeated;

AND WHEREAS democracy fails to function unless elected officials and the public are fully informed;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Mayor, on behalf of Council, request the Government of Canada to disclose fully the details of the proposed Free Trade Agreement of the Americas to be addressed in Quebec City in April.

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