ISDS Case Map
Colombia
As he blasted the "ideological" opponents of his free-trade deal with Colombia, Prime Minister Stephen Harper played down recent reports of a Colombian terrorism infiltration into Canada.
The Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) was withdrawn from the table while being debated for its second reading in Canadian Parliament on May 27, 2009. Stalled for now, the CCFTA will certainly be back: it has not been defeated, and its proponents (the Conservatives and some of the Liberals) await an opportunity to bring it back.
A free trade agreement between Colombia and the United States will become a reality and is just a matter of time, the President of the US Chamber of Commerce, Thomas J. Donahue, said.
Public pressure has forced a victory in the fight to stop the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA). Sources from Canada's three opposition parties have confirmed that the ruling Conservative
Party has removed Bill C-23, implementing legislation for the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, from the government's current legislative agenda.
The National Pork Producers Council is pushing for passage of the Panama Free Trade Agreement, saying it will level the playing field for U.S. pork producers.
The pending free trade agreement for Colombia could increase market access for soy products, but what would the impact really be? That was one of the goals of a fact-finding mission conducted by two US soybean farmers that participated in a Free Trade Agreement fact-finding mission to the South American country last week.
Citing “serious and systematic” human rights violations in Colombia, 33 non-governmental organizations led by Alliance Sud, the Berne Declaration and the Swiss Working Group on Colombia sent a letter 12 May to deputies urging them not to ratify the trade agreement between the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), of which Switzerland is a member, and Colombia.
Despite the claims of the Colombian government and those in the U.S., Canada and the EU eager to consummate "free trade" pacts with that regime, the human rights situation in that country is deteriorating fast. Indeed, by key measures -- the killing of unionists, extra-judicial killings by the military, and the forced displacement of civilians -- Colombia's human rights situation is amongst the worst in the world and getting worse. In the case of union killings, it remains the very worst.
Despite calls from labour and human rights organizations across Canada, on May 1 Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff announced that the party would support the ratification of a proposed Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA).
As the European Union this week launches another round of negotiations with Colombia on a free trade agreement, trade unionists who live daily under the gun of right-wing paramilitaries linked to the government have in Brussels in the last week pleaded with the EU executive to suspend the talks.
