At a rally held in Victoria last week, I listened to Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May explain the consequences of allowing the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project to proceed.
In addition to saying the project would, in all probability, lead to a major oil catastrophe off our Pacific Coast, May also outlined the consequences of a secret deal made by the prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Communist Party in China.
It is secret because Stephen Harper is not allowing the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPPA) to be debated nor to be voted on in Parliament. The consequences of FIPPA are Canadian taxpayers could be obligated to pay hundreds of millions of dollars if the Chinese government believes Chinese state-owned or other Chinese investments are not being protected for them by the Government of Canada.
FIPA permits the Chinese government sweeping powers to usurp Canadian laws in existence now or in the future. The Harper Conservatives are not only selling out Canadian resources and our democracy to the Chinese, they are doing so in secret agreements.
Canadians deserve to have an accountable, transparent and democratic government, not secret agreements with foreign governments which erode Canadian rights and sovereignty.
Paul Connolly
Victoria