Re: Kemp Stanton's letter - NAFTA’s replacement must benefit people and the planet, not corporate polluters!

NAFTA MUST BE BETTER! Send your letter today!

For too long, trade deals have been written to benefit the powerful few at the expense of people and the environment. Trade deals like NAFTA give corporate polluters new power, while undermining environmental and labor standards.

One NAFTA provision -- investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) -- empowers corporations to sue governments in private tribunals and demand payment of expected profits when communities succeed in rejecting environmentally destructive projects.

To make matters worse, NAFTA allows corporations to bypass our climate, air and water, and labor standards by offshoring production, jobs, and pollution to countries with lower standards. This race to the bottom harms communities throughout North America.

To prioritize working people and our planet, the deal to replace NAFTA must be negotiated openly, eliminate special rights for corporations, and include strong and enforceable protections for workers, our air and water, and our climate.

Tell our government that the deal to replace NAFTA must benefit people and the planet!

Thank you for taking action.

Gretchen Fitzgerald - National Program Director
gretchenf@sierraclub.ca

Bana Hamze - Responsible Trade Campaigner
banah@sierraclub.ca

To: The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade, The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs *

To: The Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, NAFTA Consulations email address *

cc: Conservative Trade Critic Gerry Ritz, NDP Trade Critic Tracey Ramsey, BQ Trade Critic Gabriel Ste-Marie, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May *

Message Subject *

Your message *

Replacing NAFTA

Dear Prime Minister and Minsters Champagne, Freeland and McKenna,

NAFTA gives corporate polluters even more power, while undermining critical environmental and labor standards. We need to replace NAFTA with a deal that protects working people and our air, water, and climate. That will require an overhaul of the current closed-door, corporate-dominated negotiating process, which is how we got NAFTA in the first place.

Instead, NAFTA’s renegotiation should be transparent and led by public input. Any deal to replace NAFTA must reverse the race to the bottom in environmental and labor standards by requiring each country to uphold fundamental international standards for the protection of workers, air and water, and our climate. These essential standards must be met.

In addition, NAFTA’s special rights for corporate polluters -- including investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) -- must be eliminated. There is no reason that corporations should be able to bypass our courts and sue governments over our hard-fought protections in tribunals of corporate lawyers.

I ask you to please provide leadership on what must be included -- and excluded -- in the ongoing NAFTA renegotiation. With negotiators aiming to conclude talks in a matter of months, now is the time to make clear the priorities above.

Sincerely,

First Name *

Last Name *

Email *

Street Address

City *

State/Province *

Postal Code *

Country *