Canadian municipalities conforming to CETA

[Jim Elliott]

In the city of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, our civic administration is modifying their Administration Bylaw that covers a lot of what the City of Regina administration does includes direction on municipal procurement.  At its recent Executive Committee of council, which essentially is the same as council except it meets as a committee, introduced a report from their administration wish recommended changes to their Administration Bylaw so as to better align with trade agreements such as the New West Partnership Trade Agreement, the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, and the Canada-European Union (EU) Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.  Their report can be found here http://reginask.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=3675&Inline=True.

They seemed to be oblivious to the implications and other costs associated with allowing their provincial and federal governments make these agreements that impact municipal decision making.

Has anyone got some ideas or information on how the Council may be convinced that the impacts are significant and that they should not be simply complying with what was decided on their behalf.  They also seemed to be unaware that they were a party to the negotiations around CETA and could have made efforts to exempt their city and other cities from the impacts of the trade agreement.

Thoughts?

Jim Elliott, Chairperson,

Regina Chapter, Council of Canadians