(Photo by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper)

Don't miss a talk on "Toronto's Lost Rivers"  

Wednesday, February 5th at 7pm.

Posted: 28 Jan 2014 07:57 PM PST
Statement of Lori Wallach, Director Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
"Corporate interests were fiercely lobbying for President Obama to dedicate serious time in this State of the Union speech to pushing Fast Track and the Trans-Pacific Partnership in order to try to overcome broad congressional and public opposition to both, but instead he made only a passing reference that largely repeated his past statements.
With almost no House Democratic support for Fast Track, a bloc of GOP "no" votes and public opposition making congressional phones ring off the hook, high-profile treatment of the issue was considered necessary to revive any prospect that Fast Track could be passed in this Congress.

By Dan McDermott, Ontario Chapter Director

At its December meeting the City of Mississauga’s Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) passed on to Mississauga Council a recommendation to apply to add the City’s publicly owned Credit River and Etobicoke Creek valley lands to the Greenbelt. The Greenbelt resolution is on the Council agenda for its February 12^th meeting. If successful, the Mississauga initiative will be the first addition to the Greenbelt under Ontario’s new Urban River Valley (URV) designation, enacted early last year. It will also mark the expansion of the Greenbelt into Ontario’s second most populous municipality.

On Monday, January 20^th, WSIC hosted an expert panel to engage audience members on the Canada/E.U. Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).  Sharing their views on the subject were Catherine Swift, Chair of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), Stuart Trew, trade campaigner for The Council of Canadians, and Ali Ehsassi, a lawyer specializing in international trade law.  Each speaker provided their unique point of view on the decision made by the government to enter into this important trade agreement with Europe.

Jan 2014 10:54 AM PST
Prepare for a State of the Union oddity: Democratic members of Congress sitting in silence while Republicans rise to cheer President Obama's call for Congress to grant him new powers.
A letter released today signed by a stunning array of more than 550 Democratic base organizations reiterates the perverse situation. Despite widespread opposition from congressional Democrats, Obama is expected to call on Congress to delegate Fast Track authority to him. The extraordinary trade authority, which Congress has refused to grant for 15 of the past 20 years, would suspend normal congressional procedures for consideration of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which Obama hopes to sign soon.

BBC News, January 22nd, 2014

The European Commission says it will consult on part of a far-reaching EU-US free trade deal amid concern that hard-won social protections in Europe might be undermined.

The trade negotiations began last year but now the Commission has launched a three-month public consultation on the proposed investment rules for firms.

There are fears that they could give big firms too much power to block unfavourable government policies.

Negotiations will continue.

The proposed EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) could bring huge benefits for Europe and America, the Commission says.

Inside US Trade, . 

In a rare move, the European Commission has decided to freeze talks with the United States on the investment provisions of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) for three months while it conducts a public consultation on how the deal should approach investment, according to an EU official.