CCPA submission to Global Affairs Canada on the renegotiation and modernization of the North American Free Trade Agreement
Global Affairs Canada is consulting Canadians on their priorities for, and concerns about, the planned renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In CCPA’s submission to this process, Scott Sinclair, Stuart Trew and Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood point out how NAFTA has failed to live up to its promise with respect to job and productivity growth, and clearly has not shielded Canada from unilateral U.S. trade actions that hurt Canadian exports. If NAFTA renegotiation is to have any chance of improving the welfare of all North Americans, they argue, it must be inclusive, transformative and forward-looking—focused on today’s real challenges, including climate change, the changing nature of work, stagnant welfare gains and unacceptable levels of inequality in all three North American countries. NAFTA should be renegotiated so that it helps us achieve the sustainable and equitable society we want, not to uphold an uninspiring and untenable status quo.
About the authors
Stuart serves as director of the CCPA’s Trade and Investment Research Project (TIRP), which pools the expertise of academic, labour and non-governmental organization researchers to understand the impacts of trade and investment treaties and policy on the Canadian economy, public services, human rights and international relations. He joined the CCPA in 2014 as editor of the Monitor magazine. Stuart has a BA in journalism and political science and a MA in political economy from Carleton University. He was previously a trade researcher and campaigner with the Council of Canadians. In 2009, he co-founded the Trade Justice Network, which continues to bring together labour, environmental, student, human rights and social justice groups to contest neoliberal trade rules and propose progressive alternatives.
Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood (he/him) is a senior researcher and political economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. His work focuses on federal economic, social and environmental policy, especially in the areas of climate change, artificial intelligence and industrial strategy. Hadrian edits the monthly Shift Storm newsletter on climate and labour.
