[Previous entry] [Main Index] [Next entry]

02/23/2004 Entry: "Canada: CUPW calls for a more balanced set of rules"

A new study has provided compelling evidence that the existence of public services such as the post office is threatened by the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) and its Telecommunication Reference Paper (TRP)," said Deborah Bourque, President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) in response to a book released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) in Ottawa. The book, called “Return to Sender”, reveals that pro-competitive rules on government regulation, derived from the 1997 TRP, are being proposed for postal and many other service sectors. It explores the underlying tensions between the GATS and public postal service and the potentially disastrous impact of using the TRP as a model for providing postal and other services. "Applying the telecoms model to public postal service would make it virtually impossible for the post office to provide service in the public interest," said Bourque. "It's already difficult under the GATS because the agreement puts foreign corporations' right to compete with the post office before the public's right to have a universal, affordable postal service. Bourque said she wholeheartedly supports the book's conclusion that all GATS proposals for "pro-competitive" re-regulation of postal and other services be rejected and stamped Return to Sender. "In fact, we think that that it's time to get rid of the whole agreement," said Bourque. "The GATS needs to be replaced by a far more balanced set of rules that supports public interest regulation, universal health and social services, protection of the environment and other public and social goods - not just private commercial interests."