Not much TILMA talk at AMO conference: Ontario municipal councilors still in the dark on trade agreement with Quebec

[Stop TILMA!]

This report from Stuart Trew after attending the Association of
Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) this week.

From August 24 to 27, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario
(AMO) met in Ottawa for their annual general meeting. Over 1,600
municipal mayors and councilors attended this hear to hear the latest
on water treatment and Clean Water Act guidelines, public-private
partnerships, Ontario’s new pesticide law, and many other issues.
Mixed into the fray was a Monday afternoon session on trade agreements
where delegates were to find out “What do internal trade agreements
mean for the municipal sector?” and “What is the Quebec-Ontario
agreement likely to include when finalized?”

The Council of Canadians attended this year’s conference to find out
what the AMO knew that we didn’t about the new TILMA-like agreement
being negotiated with Quebec, and to meet with councillors who are
already working to fight the agreement. We would all get few answers
over the three days, and speaking to AMO executives and staff leading
up to the session, it became clear that they were mostly in the dark
on the details of this new trade agreement.

About 30 or 40 people attended the session on trade agreements, which
included presentations from Gerald Rhodes, executive director of the
Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC), and
Bob Seguin, assistant deputy minister, industry division, with the
Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. The councillors and mayors
in the room were knowledgeable about TILMA and angry that there has
not been more consultation with municipalities about the Ontario-
Quebec agreement.


AMO TRADE SESSION PRESENTATIONS

Gerald Rhodes gave a rundown of how TILMA played out in Alberta and
B.C., and what provincial negotiations with the MASH (municipalities,
academic institutions, schools and hospitals) sector were able to
achieve. The AAMDC joined the Alberta Union of Municipal Associations
and the Union of B.C. Municipalities at the bargaining table this
January for a series of monthly meetings to try to force concessions
out of Alberta and B.C.

While Rhodes was probably overly optimistic about the recently
announced TILMA modifications – higher procurement thresholds, a
promise (not a guarantee) that zoning bylaws will not be challenged,
and an exemption from having to recognize all out-of-province
businesses as also registered locally – he was also keenly aware of
the bad faith on the part of the provinces when it came to
negotiating. He made it fairly clear that out west the agreement was
handed to municipalities as a done deal.

“We weren’t exactly happy with that process... but we are satisfied
that our negotiations went well,” Rhodes said. “But we’d rather
negotiate at the front end of the process.”

After explaining that there were pre-existing means for sorting out
labour mobility and many trade issues, Rhodes said, “Generally with
TILMA, you wonder why it was needed, why it was there.” He also said
there was federal pressure to change the Agreement on Internal Trade
after TILMA was signed.

But Rhodes misled councillors twice: first, when he claimed that
municipalities will be asked to “fix the problem” (i.e. get rid of a
contested policy or measure) first before fines get slapped on the
province, and; second, when he insisted that municipalities can hold
onto policies that restrict or impair investment as long as they don’t
treat out-of-province companies differently than local companies.

The mere threat of a TILMA challenge is already interfering with
municipal policymaking in B.C. Also, provinces hold the purse strings
and are bound to use the fines as leverage to insist on the
elimination of municipal measures under threat from corporate
challenges.

Also, as trade lawyer Steven Shrybman has argued, trade tribunals will
likely rule against the interpretation that says TILMA only applies to
discriminatory policies. It is designed to discourage and eliminate
any measure that operates to restrict or impair trade or investment.

Bob Seguin, with the Ontario government, was less forthcoming on the
Ontario-Quebec agreement. In fact, we learned nothing we didn’t
already know from having seen the framework for negotiations beyond
some key dates listed below.

Seguin justified the new agreement with Quebec as a means to stimulate
foreign investment, broaden the province’s global reach, diversify the
industrial base, restructure manufacturing, improve productivity and
enhancing competitiveness. He said it was to “strengthen, update and
deepen the economic relationship between the two provinces,” and that
it will “go beyond” TILMA by making “economic cooperation” a priority,
written into the text.

There was very little mention of trade barriers between the provinces
beyond the suggestion that Quebec recently dropped its margarine laws
as a sign of good faith in its negotiations with Ontario.

Seguin insisted that the framework, which is only available on request
from the department and will not be posted, is not a final agreement
and that they are tackling issues and concerns on the way, and not
after, a final deal is signed. Still, he admitted they are very tied
to a rigid dispute resolution process that will give it “teeth,” much
like TILMA.

Furthermore, unlike the AIT, “a bilateral agreement may allow parties
to go further and faster than a multi-party agreement would allow them
to go,” said in his PowerPoint presentation.


HEATED QUESTIONS, NO ANSWERS

Following these presentations, several councillors asked heated
questions about TILMA, the Ontario-Quebec deal and why municipalities
didn’t know more than they do about what was being discussed.

Pat Banford, a councillor from Timmins, said that trade agreements
tend to restrict the role of government from responding to the needs
of people, and asked how the Ontario-Quebec deal will restrict the
democratic process in Ontario, using better safety standards in
transportation as an example.

Anne Marie DeCicco-Best, mayor of London, said that this issue is only
going to become more and more a concern for local governments because
there is so little information about the agreement. She asked how
municipalities will be more involved in the coming months and how
their rights will be protected.

Seguin responded that the province is simply not there yet – that they
want to be able to present something more complete – which is more
like how TILMA happened and does not seem to represent a new way of
negotiating with municipalities. He then said that Jim Watson,
minister of municipal affairs, will be leading the negotiations
between the province and the municipalities and other sectors.

The last time the Council wrote to Watson, he deferred questions about
the Ontario-Quebec deal to Sandra Pupatello, minister of economic
development and trade. And on the second day of the AMO meeting,
Watson did the same when we put the question of when consultations
will begin to him again. Clearly he hadn’t received the memo stating
he would be responsible for those consultations!

Minister Pupatello addressed the convention on its final morning but
did not address the new agreement with Quebec and left the stage
without answering questions. When pressed afterwards by the Council of
Canadians about the Ontario-Quebec partnership she said that
municipalities will soon have “pages and pages” of documents to go
over, which implies they are going to see a draft agreement when
everyone else will and won’t be consulted prior that draft being ready
this winter.

SIGNIFICANT DATES AND INFO

October 2, 2008: McGuinty and Charest will meet at the annual Ontario
Economic Forum, an elite gathering of business leaders and their
friends, much like the North American Competitiveness Council only
with somewhat less clout. The premiers will discuss progress to the
negotiations on their deal.

December 2008: Tentative draft approval of the Ontario-Quebec Economic
Partnership Agreement.

Spring 2009 to 2010: Implementation of the agreement if the premiers
agree to sign it.

Thanks,

Stuart Trew
Regional Organizer/Organisateur régional (Ontario-Québec)
Council of Canadians/Conseil des Canadiens
T. 416.979.5554; 800.208.7156
F. 416.979.8972

Learn more about the Council or become a member at www.canadians.org!