If it’s Stiglitz, it must be good.
I’m really hoping the current Canadian government never ratifies any of this >.< Everything i’ve heard about it is so bad…
I hope so too, bro. It’s some seriously awful stuff that obviously presages worse.
At this point, I’m starting to think it’s about extracting maximum wealth just before the end.
It does seem that way, eh? But then, what is the point of sitting upon piles of bling when in fact, it is the end?
hahah yeah, if it’s the end… money no longer has a point, so why do you want to fuck it up? D:
This is exactly like NAFTA.
No one wants this deal at the level of regular citizens, but it’s going to happen. Why? Because the right people are going to make money and because we have an inherently corrupt political system.
Ratification is so last century. Thanks to the magic of “Provisional Application.”
UNESCO Glossary: Provisional Application
Europe’s 1994 Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) included investor rights provisions. Russia, Belarus, Iceland, Norway and Australia signed the ECT, but have never ratified it.
In 2009 Russia announced its decision to not become a Contracting Party to it and officially withdrew from the ECT. Those countries are still bound by their ECT commitments. Article 45 (3) (b) states that “In the event that a signatory terminates provisional application…any Investments made in its Area during such provisional application by Investors of other signatories shall nevertheless remain in effect with respect to those Investments for twenty years following the effective date of termination.”
In 2004 the Russian government stole/nationalized the Yukos Oil Company, which had foreign investors. In 2014 the ECT dispute arbitration tribunal ordered the Russian Federation to pay damages in excess of USD 50 Billion (with a B) to Yukos shareholders. Plus USD 60 million in legal fees and EUR 4.2 million in arbitration costs. It was the largest arbitration award in history.
Remember, this is for a treaty that Russia did not ratify. (citation)
CETA, the new Canada-EU free trade treaty widely seen as the model for a US-EU treaty - has similar rules. Once CETA is made public for ratification, if Canadians or EU citizens are opposed and decide not to ratify it, they’re still bound by it for further three years. The Canadian government - that is, the taxpayers - can still be sued if they pass or enforce any law that harms investors, from the time of signing to the time of deciding not to ratify, plus three years after. If they later withdraw from the treaty, they’re bound for a further 20 years.
The TPP needs ratification by states corresponding to 85% of GDP of signatories. It could come into effect without Canada ratifying it. I don’t know what the Provisional Application rules are for a country not ratifying the TPP, but it’s a safe bet that they’re there.
Not ratifying isn’t enough. We need to make sure that Canada doesn’t sign it.
(We signed it along with everyone else at the signing ceremony in New Zealand on Feb. 4th.)
For example:
We ratified that one in October, and it’s in effect.
seems like the next war will be between the corporations and everyone else.
[quote=“cameronh1403, post:11, topic:75999, full:true”]
seems like the next war will be between the corporations and everyone else.
[/quote]What do you mean “next war”? That one’s been ongoing for at least 30 years.
If Bernie doesn’t get up, this is a fairly compelling reason to actually vote Trump.
I don’t know, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, reckons that the TPP is awesome. He’s a multi-millionaire ex currency trader so that means he’s a business man and makes good decisions. Or so half the country thinks I guess.
Duh
/6char
Sigh 
Such a lovely country, such a shame!
I suppose the same could be said of Canada’s 11 year affair with this human cesspit:
- edit
9 years 
odd how it felt longer…
As in ‘F—k it, let’s make sure this hijacked mess flies into the sea’ kind of voter sentiment?
I think that those with piles of money who see that the end is nigh think it isn’t nigh for them – they probably think they’ll just build mountain-top and private-island fortresses, then watch the bloodsports played out by the rest of us from the parepets through diamond-encrusted binoculars.
Once 90% of the human race die off in the coming decades all that wealth could really be worth something.
Allowing a foreign corporation to sue a government for actual losses might be considered reasonable. But it sounds like TPP, similar to NAFTA, will actually allow them to sue governments (i.e. taxpaying citizens) for lost future profits as well.
This provision is a poison pill that risks derailing the whole plan. There’s only one conclusion that can be drawn from their decision to include this: They care more about corporate profits than about increasing trade across the Pacific.
