Union Asks: Where’s the Transparency we were Promised?

[Mar 17, 2009 09:58 AM]

 

For immediate release:  March 17, 2009

 

 

REGINA—The largest union in the province is asking the Government of Saskatchewan to come clean on the details of the “Western economic partnership.”

 

 

“This government campaigned on a platform of transparency and accountability,” said Tom Graham, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees – Saskatchewan (CUPE Saskatchewan). “Not only was the process for creating this agreement with British Columbia and Alberta kept secret; but the details of this agreement have still not been made public.”

 

 

CUPE Saskatchewan joined countless individuals, organizations, trade unions and other groups in opposing the controversial Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) in 2007. Although Premier Wall agreed to respect Saskatchewan’s residents by not signing TILMA, Graham notes that the people of Saskatchewan have no assurance that Brad Wall hasn’t committed their province to something similar—or identical—in committing Saskatchewan to the economic partnership with those two provinces.

 

 

“Refusing to show the people what we, as a province, have apparently agreed to is a major problem for democracy,” said Graham, who added that a letter to the editor of the Vancouver Sun—penned by Wall, Alberta premier Ed Stelmach and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell—notes that the agreement includes “full labour mobility.”

 

 

“That sounds too much like TILMA,” Graham said.

 

 

Significant public consultations were undertaken as the province considered its participation in TILMA, which showed that the trade deal would be detrimental to Saskatchewan’s economy; problematic to the province’s ability to regulate and control quality standards in a number of industries; and devastating to maintaining Saskatchewan’s Crown corporations.

 

 

“If this new partnership really is good for the average Saskatchewan resident, then why hide it?” Graham asked.

 

 

The Canadian Union of Public Employees is the largest union in Canada, and Saskatchewan. Provincially, more than 29,000 CUPE members work in the municipal, K-12 education, health care, libraries and university sectors, among others.

 

 

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For more information, contact:

 

Tom Graham (306) 757-1009                                                                             cope 342