FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fox Creek, AB - December 11th - An Economic Research Report published by the United States Department of Agriculture is predicting that Canada will receive no growth to its GDP from the agriculture portions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.[1] Meanwhile, Australia & New Zealand have demanded concessions in other areas to secure the needed opening of their agricultural sectors. Back in June, Minister of Agriculture Gerry Ritz stated that the Conservative Government would never sign an agreement that Canada did not benefit from. He also stated that he saw more promise in making bilateral trade deals (specifically with Japan) since the Trans-Pacific Partnership only had a 50-50 chance of actually being agreed upon.

Canadian negotiators have been fighting hard against including longer copyright terms in the agreement. Several provisions also aim to strengthen pharmaceutical patents at the expense of sick Canadians. These issues combined with a distinct lack of research on what growth, if any, the Trans-Pacific Partnership will result in makes it appear Canada is set to trade something for nothing.

“When will Prime Minister Harper listen to the advice of his own Agriculture Minister and change course? If Mr. Harper has any evidence that the Trans-Pacific Partnership is worth the time investment he has put into it I think it is time he shared it. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is an unwieldy mess that has not been shown capable of increasing the Canadian GDP. Instead, it seems it will only increase burdensome regulations”, says James Wilson, Leader of the Pirate Party of Canada. “Previously Canada had primarily kept to making bilateral agreements between ourselves and other nations. I feel this is a better way to go about opening up trade as it allows Canada a great deal more freedom to create agreements that suit our interests. If problems arise we can rest assured knowing each individual treaty does not make up a large percentage of our total trade. The TPP, on the other hand, will introduce a degree of inflexibility into Canadian trade relations that we can do without”. The Pirate Party of Canada calls on Stephan Harper to end his quixotic campaign and return to the sensible policy of negotiating treaties bilaterally.

The Pirate Party of Canada is a federal political party focused on thoughtful information policy reform, genuine democracy, civil liberties, and the freedom of the Internet. You can find out more online at www.pirateparty.ca .

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[1] http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err-economic-research-report/err176