Leaked Doc Puts Spotlight on Corporate-Friendly Trade Deal

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/08/14/leaked-doc-puts-spotlight-corporate-friendly-trade-deal



Text of Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement shows how much power corporations could have over municipalities' water

Leaked Doc Puts Spotlight on Corporate-Friendly Trade Deal
Andrea Germanos, staff writer
Thursday, August 14, 2014

A leaked document is putting the spotlight on a trade deal between Canada and the European Union that one critic says is all about "giving corporations rights."

The text of the deal, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), had thus far been kept from public scrutiny. But the German television show Tagesschau uploaded a 521-page portion (pdf) Wednesday, said to be roughly a third of the full text.

Garry Neil, Executive Director of the Council of Canadians, an Ottawa-based organization that has challenged CETA, sounded alarm over potential threats that still appear to be part of the deal to people in the EU and Canada.

One of those issues is the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism. As the Toronto Star explained, this is "similar to the much-maligned Chapter 11 provisions in NAFTA that allow multinational businesses to go before a special tribunal — rather than regular courts — to sue governments over regulations a corporation believes are discriminatory."