Walking the Trade Tightrope, Confidently
Robert B. Zoellick, the United States trade representative, is an optimistic guy. He needs to be, given the difficulties he faces in pushing the Bush administration's free-trade agenda.
www.nytimes.com/2001/08/05/business/yourmoney/05VIEW.html?todaysheadlines
Fri 7/27/01 10:29 AM G8 should thank protesters
By: LYLE STEWART
If I were just another corporate apologist, my belly full of spleen, I'd be thanking my lucky stars the protests at the G8 summit in Genoa last weekend had their share of blood, gore and burning cars. The violence saves having to find yet another way to repeat the old nostrums about how corporations are democracy; that the poor are that way because they haven't had enough corporate globalization. It must be tough to flesh out those arguments in the absence of supporting evidence.
So when a protester stopped a couple police bullets with his forehead - phew! - there was no need to discuss what actually happened at the summit, although a common complaint is over all the attention paid to people who protest as opposed to the world leaders. Oops, sorry, protesters aren't people; they're thugs. And who elected them anyway? The leaders inside the summit were elected, remember
Fri 7/27/01 10:29 AM Down from the summit
By: GRETTA CHAMBERS
Wednesday's lead story in Le Devoir headlined, "Smog: Montreal is having a difficult summer," put a local spin on the Kyoto agreement, which was saved in large part by Canada's decision to support the European position against U.S. opposition.
La Presse's Martin Pelchat reported that federal Environment Minister David Anderson defended his government's original hard-line stand against the criticisms of Quebec Environment Minister Andre Boisclair: "Anderson claims that the breakthrough clearly indicates that Ottawa was right to act tough before negotiations and that Boisclair had been badly advised to insist the federal government ratify the treaty on any terms."
Tue 7/24/01 6:57 AM Scaling back the summit
Long before international summits became magnets for anti-globalization protesters, concerns had been growing that the annual G7 - now G8 - meetings of the top Western leaders were getting wildly out of hand. What started in 1975 as a relatively intimate get-together in Rambouillet, France, a quarter-century later has grown into a massive, obscenely expensive institution that, were it not for the tragic shooting death of a rioting protester at the latest summit that wrapped up Sunday in Genoa, would be tempting to dismiss as a circus.
So Prime Minister Chretien at least seems to be moving in the right direction in deciding to host next year's event in Kananaskis, Alta., a small, isolated tourist town in the Rockies. Mr. Chretien also has pointedly noted that the town's size means that each delegation will have to be reduced dramatically, down to 35 or so people.
Tue 7/24/01 6:57 AM Kyoto Protocol not last word
The Kyoto Protocol, signed by 178 nations yesterday morning, represents a start on curbing potentially dangerous emissions of waste gases. With its well-publicized flaws, however, it must not be considered the last word in cutting greenhouse gas discharges worldwide.
A preponderance of climate scientists link greenhouse gases to global warming, which some predict will increase the possibility of drought, flood, cyclones and soil erosion.
Thu 7/5/01 8:28 AM Free-trade text 'says nothing': Beaudoin
Quebec International Affairs Minister Louise Beaudoin says the 430-page draft text of the Free Trade Area of the Americas deal is completely unreadable - proof provincial governments should be at the negotiating table of big trade agreements.
"It says nothing," Beaudoin said of the text. "Everything is in brackets."
Wed 7/4/01 7:00 PM FTAA TEXT RELEASED
The federal government has released the negotiating text of the Free
Trade Area of the Americas.
Sun 5/27/01
MEN ARRESTED AT SUMMIT TO REMAIN BEHIND BARS
Five men arrested during the Summit of the Americas will remain in
prison for at least another few days.
Sat 4/21/01 Presidential primer on Kweebek
By: JOSH FREED
Dear President Bush:
Welcome to the Summit of the Americas, where police and protesters are clashing in U.S.-style riots usually reserved for Canadian hockey rinks. We Canadians usually sit on the fence on most issues, but this weekend, some seem determined to tear the fence down.
I know this is also an important trip for you, Mr. Bush, your first trip to Canada and one of your first outside the United States.
Thu 4/19/01 10:58 AM NAFTA: the good, bad and ugly
By: JEFF HEINRICH
On the drive out to the new international bridge to Mexico, under towering overpasses being built where farmers used to tend onion fields, Arturo Garcia marveled at the economic miracle that has transformed his home town.
"All this just because of NAFTA," said the stocky young real-estate salesman and local development official, who promotes business in Laredo and its larger neighbour across the Rio Grande, Nuevo Laredo. "People who've been away from here for a few years can't believe the changes they see when they come back."
Tue 4/17/01 CANADIANS EMBRACE FREE TRADE: SURVEY
As Quebec City braces for the Summit of the Americas, a new survey shows
Canadians seem to sympathize with both sides in the debate.
Thu 4/12/01 7:31 AM Poverty or prosperity?
Free trade will either grind millions of people into desperate poverty or lift workers across the hemisphere into economic prosperity. The vision of the future depends on who is talking, and both sides had their say yesterday as pro- and anti-free traders made speeches leading up the Quebec City Summit of the Americas.
At a two-hour press conference, environmentalists, labour leaders and social activists urged citizens to travel to Quebec City and protest against the summit, which they believe favours corporate interests over people.
10/Apr/2001 Text details for talks may curb protests, minister says
By: JOHN WARD CP
International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew says the promise to make public draft negotiating texts for the Free Trade Area of the Americas may take some wind from the sails of demonstrators in Quebec City next week.
Activists, though, dismissed the gesture as a sop. "If this is an open process, I'd hate to see a closed one," said David Robbins of the Council of Canadians.
10/Apr/2001 Green all over
By: MICHELLE LALONDE The Gazette
While trade and the environment might seem like separate issues, environmentalists are keenly focused on what happens at the Summit of the Americas.
But while they tend to be lumped in with "anti-globalization forces," most mainstream environmentalists don't argue that globalization or freer trade is necessarily bad for the environment.
Sun 4/8/01 4:31 PMProtesters should be admitted
The peaceful nature of the recent anti-FTAA protests in Montreal and Ottawa should indicate to us that the same peaceful tactics are to be expected in Quebec City. The security measures set in place for the Summit of the Americans are overkill; more public danger has occurred at rock concerts and after sports events than at these protests.
I am outraged to hear reports that foreign protesters are being refused entry to Canada. The concerned citizens of the countries of the Americas who make sacrifices to show their concern in Quebec City will present little danger to society or the summit participants.
Thu 4/5/01ALTERNATIVE SUMMIT ANNOUNCED FOR QUEBEC CITY
In the week leading up to the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, an
alternative summit will be held by people who say the Free Trade Area of
the Americas needs to take human rights into more consideration.
Tue 4/3/01 Human rights a divisive issue
By: SUE MONTGOMERY
If a deal like the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which will be discussed this month in Quebec City, can protect business's right to make profits, why can't it also include protection for human rights, activists ask.
Because you'd never get a trade agreement, and if you did, it would be unworkable, says Thomas d'Aquino, head of the Business Council on National Issues, Canada's foremost business-lobby group.
March 2001
Sun 3/25/01 8:00 PM QUEBEC CITY TO OPEN BEDS FOR PROTESTERS
Quebec City is following the lead of Laval University in next month's
Summit of the Americas. The university is going to make space available
for people who need a place to stay. Mayor Jean Paul L'Allier says
Quebec City has taken an inventory of available spaces in community
centres and colleges. He says young people who come to protest at the
summit cannot be left out in the cold. [Why not .. if you visit a any city, unplaned, ... DTN]
Sun 3/25/01 8:06 AMActivists to pitch policies in tent
By: CHARLIE FIDELMAN
As leaders of 34 countries wine, dine and mingle at the finest hotels inside a fortified security zone, a parallel summit will be doing business in a heated tent in Quebec City's Old Port.
An estimated 2,000 people - many of them from human-rights, education, religious and labour groups - will serve as hosts at their their own gathering, the second Peoples' Summit of the Americas, April 17-21.
Fri 3/23/01 8:00 PM LAWYER PROPOSES SUMMIT COMPROMISE
The lawyer trying to stop authorities from erecting a security fence for
the Summit of the Americas is proposing a compromise. Marc Tremblay of Montreal wants summit officials to allow a table be set up outside the convention centre in Quebec City, as well as giant screens in the convention hall. That way, he says, protest groups could make their case one by one, in an orderly way.
Tremblay's injunction hearing has been put off until next month.
Thu 3/22/01 7:31 AM Buying access
In inviting corporations to sponsor social events at the Summit of the Americas, which opens in Quebec City in a month, the Chretien government is showing breathtaking insensitivity.
While fences 3 metres high keep the general public beyond even hailing distance of the delegates, inside the convention centre corporate executives will have easy access to national leaders. Why? Because of their ability to pay up to $500,000 to host coffee breaks, luncheons or receptions.
Wed 3/21/01 11:14 AM
Hello, I am not sure if you can help me, however I am looking for
information on who the Cuban delegates are for the upcoming Americas
Conference in Quebec. I understand that they have no official standing, but
do know that the government is sending a delegation.
Would you know who they are or if you could direct me to find out.
Thank-you and if you could reply to the address below
my home email is gabiarm@look.ca Gabriele Armstrong
[If you can Help DTN]
Wed 3/21/01 10:02 AM Quebec summit's sponsors will get access to leaders
By: JOAN BRYDEN and JAMES BAXTER
Prime MinisterJean Chretien made no apologies yesterday for giving corporations privileged access to hemispheric leaders if they pay millions to sponsor events at the coming Summit of the Americas in Quebec City.
Chretien said there's nothing unusual in the practice, noting that sponsors have been solicited to help defray the costs of previous summits of foreign leaders. ...Scotiabank and Alcan are paying $500,000 each to co-sponsor the reception.
OTTAWA Tue Mar 20 19:35:52 2001 - Prime Minister Chrétien is defending the corporate sponsorship of next month's Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. Chrétien says corporate sponsorship does not give business leaders special access to heads of state who will discuss expanded free trade in the Americas.
Companies are spending millions of dollars on everything from coffee to alcohol for officials taking part in the summit. In return, some are given special seating at dinners.
Critics say it shows how government is ignoring people in favour of big business. [???]
Sat 3/17/01 8:01 AM Seen but not heard
By: KEVIN DOUGHERTY
Quebec may be "gagged" during the Summit of the Americas here next month, as International Relations Minister Louise Beaudoin has said, but it is accepting federal offers of limited participation in the international event.
The 34 heads of state from all the sovereign nations in North, South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean - with the exception of Cuba - will converge on Quebec City on April 20-22 to discuss the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement, calling for a free-trade zone from Alaska to Argentina.
Mon 3/12/01 7:02 AM Americans are more compassionate than us
By: WILLIAM WATSON
In office just a little longer than it took for the Florida vote to be counted, George W. Bush seems to be doing just fine. His cabinet was confirmed in record time. The New Yorker, of all places, called his inaugural address the best since Kennedy's (although they naturally doubted his sincerity). He got through his first speech to Congress without screwing up. The House of Representatives has passed his tax bill. His vice-president has only had one heart attack (touch wood!).
This all comes as a great shock, of course, to those who, on the idiot scale, would score Bush well above driveling but not quite so high as blithering. That includes many millions of Canadians, for our former ambassador to Washington was probably right: most of us feel more at home with a Democrat in the White House. Al Gore - wooden, sanctimonious, overly impressed by his own intelligence - was our kind of guy >
Thu 3/8/01 7:02 AM
Feds right to not let Landry speak at summit
By: TOMMY SCHNURMACHER
It' was a hectic week for Quebec Premier Bernard Landry. On Thursday, he became the unelected new leader of the province he prefers to describe as the "Quebec nation." On Friday, the new face of sovereignty celebrated his 64th birthday.
His cabinet appointments were most reassuring. We can rest easy knowing that Remy Trudel who used to be in charge of agricultural issues, will now use his considerable expertise to solve the health-care crisis.
Wed 3/7/01 7:02 AM Feds to Landry: Zip lip at summit
By: PHILIP AUTHIER; KEVIN DOUGHERTY
The federal government is gagging the Quebec government, its premier and the Quebec people by refusing to give the province more than a social role at the Summit of the Americas, the province's international-relations minister charged yesterday.
In a stinging rebuke to Ottawa, Louise Beaudoin said that despite the federal government's conciliatory public image on the question, it's playing hardball behind the scenes in denying a greater role to Bernard Landry, who will be premier by the time the summit takes place in April.
Wed 3/7/01 8:00 PM STE-FOY BACKTRACKS ON DEMONSTRATION BY-LAWS
The city of Ste-Foy, Que. is repealing two controversial by-laws it
passed last week for the upcoming Summit of the Americas.
February 2001
Wed 2/28/01 8:00 PM
BYLAW LIMITING DEMONSTRATORS HAS SOME FURIOUS
A new bylaw in Ste-Foy, Que. has civil liberties union outraged. Earlier
this week, the city council passed a law which bans any demonstrator
from wearing a scarf, masks or veil.
Fri 2/23/01 7:02 AM
Wealth distribution, not creation, is the problem
By: LYLE STEWART Freelance
Long accustomed to having the playpen all to themselves, the prophets of globalization are getting decidedly cranky now that protesters of all kinds have succeeded in opening up the debate. Consider the outburst from the head of the World Trade Organization, Mike Moore, during a recent speech in Australia:
"The people that stand outside and say they work in the interests of the poorest people, they make me want to vomit," said Moore, spewing forth in the Feb. 6 Independent. "Because the poorest people on our planet, they are the ones that need us the most."
Wed 2/28/01 7:02 AM Bylaw will ban masks, scarves
By: PHILIP AUTHIER
The Quebec civil-liberties union is threatening legal action if a Quebec City suburb doesn't withdraw a sweeping new bylaw that bars people from covering their faces with scarves or masks to conceal their identity at protests during the coming Summit of the Americas.
The bylaw, adopted for the duration of the summit, is unjustifiable, illegal and unconstitutional in a free and democratic society and represents a breach of the fundamental right to gather and express opinions, says the organization, adding it wants the rule rescinded before the April event.
Fri 2/23/01 7:02 AM Rights must accompany trade: PM
By: ELIZABETH THOMPSON
Prime Minister Jean Chretien served notice yesterday that protection of human rights and democracy has to go hand in hand with the creation of a new Free Trade Area of the Americas when leaders meet here in April for a hemispheric summit.
"The summit is much more than a vehicle to promote economic growth," Chretien told a business lunch on the site of the summit yesterday.
Thu 2/15/01 6:53 AM MÉNARD CONFIDENT ABOUT SECURITY AT SUMMIT OF AMERICAS
Quebec Public Security Minister Serge Ménard says he welcomes the
initiative by the Human Rights League to send observers to the Summit of
the Americas in Quebec City.
Thu 2/15/01 6:53 AM
5,000 cops to get special training for April summit in Quebec City
By: KEVIN DOUGHERTY
The 5,000 police assigned to maintain order during the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City will receive "intensive training" to ensure that lawbreakers are dealt with while respecting the rights of peaceful protesters, says Public Security Minister Serge Menard.
And to ensure police act properly, television cameras will monitor their crowd-control activities, including arrests, the minister added.
6/Feb/2001
POLICE APOLOGIZE FOR SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS ARRESTS
The Quebec City police force has apologized [why? DTN] for arresting three people
who were handing out pamphlets denouncing the April Summit of the
Americas conference.
[send them to Singapor!]
3/Feb/2001 PROVINCE NOT INVITED TO SUMMIT OF NATIONS
Ottawa and Quebec are in a battle over whether Quebec has a place at the
Summit of the Americas this spring in Quebec City.
What is next? see WEDNESDAY-NIGHT #835, March 4th, 1998
Westmount.htm
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