Statement from the House of Commons, June 5, 2000:

Mr. Speaker, the secrecy, deception and lack of transparency associated with free trade negotiations seems to be getting worse over time under the Liberals.

Last week the Deputy Prime Minister said that the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement would not be on the table at the OAS meeting in Windsor. Yet we know the OAS is part of the secretariat for the FTAA and when the Prime Minister spoke to the OAS, he could hardly talk about anything else but trade. Why the dodge about the relationship between the OAS and the FTAA?

A few weeks ago we found out that the Business Council on National Issues had been quietly negotiating a free trade deal with Japan. As CAW president Buzz Hargrove rightly observed, big business has decided to eliminate the middle man, that is government, and negotiate these deals itself. No more is there to be even the charade of democracy. The OAS event in Windsor and the BCNI in Japan are all part of the same pathology. Pro free trade politicians meet behind barricades to protect themselves from the people because they are now openly and shamelessly taking their orders from the corporate sector. The Liberals should either build the metal fences even higher or reclaim their role as representatives of the people, one or the other.