<rant>The rhetoric from Libby Davies and the left speaks about how we should boycott a free trade deal with Columbia because of their alleged human rights record.

Of course, as usual, no solutions are presented. Let’s just shut the doors, put on a boycott, continue to lose our competitive edge and devolve into a third world nation. Great stuff, Libby.

This is by no means an attack on trade unionists. Actually, on the surface, it seems that the treatment in Columbia is not specific to trade unionists – it also applies to ordinary people. It’s just that Libby is spinning it this way – despicable at best.</rant>

Check the original release after the jump.

May 16, 2008

Kill a Trade Unionist; Pay a Fine.

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

The Harper Government believes that the unhindered killing of trade unionists, peasants and activists by para-militaries in Colombia is just business as usual. The Uribe Colombian Government may have one of the worst human records in the world; the Harper government is staying the course and following the path of the Bush administration. The Canada-Colombia Free Trade negotiations are ongoing and the federal government is pushing full steam ahead.

Harper’s flawed policy is clear: in his books, free trade will bring an end to human rights abuse by some of the most despotic regimes on earth. Even more appalling, the Harper government claims that a Labour side agreement to the free trade deal guarantees the protection of labour rights. Harper’s bluff was exposed by evidence provided during the April 16th hearings of the Standing Committee on International Trade, while the NDP was asking questions to Senior Canadian negotiators appearing before the Committee.

The shocking reality is that in the event of the murder of a trade unionist in Colombia, labour protection simply meant that the Colombian government would have to pay money into a development fund. Harper’s solution: Kill a trade unionist; pay a fine! Over 2200 labour activists murdered since 1991, and the hunt for trade unionists in Colombia will go on, if the price is right. Such is Harper’s concept of labour protection.

It is impossible to separate human rights from international trade and negotiating a free trade agreement with Colombia is no exception.

We are appealing to all our sisters and brothers in the trade union movement, to the grassroots as well as to our friends in civil society, to help expose and stop the Canada Colombia trade talks. We must develop and implement a Human Rights Impact Assessment in any trade agreement and ensure that there are binding and enforceable protections for labour and human rights, within the framework of Fair Trade. Please join our campaign to put a halt to the proposed ‘free’ trade agreement by signing and distributing the attached petition and sending it postage free to:

Peter Julian, MP
Parliamentary Office
Room178, Confederation Building, House of Commons Ottawa ON K1A 0A6

Together, we can stop what is a clear repudiation of Canadian values for human and labour rights.

Thank you!

Peter Julian, MP (Burnaby-New Westminster)
NDP International Trade Critic

Libby Davies, MP (Vancouver East)
Deputy Leader and NDP Labour Critic