Jack Layton and the New Democrats will:

End the Conservatives’ restrictive 2007 Canada-US softwood lumber agreement.

Ensure that Canadian negotiators bargain in Canada’s interests in international trade negotiations. We will:

• Oppose the introduction of extraordinary investor protection into trade agreements.
• Protect existing marketing systems for our agricultural industries.
• Obtain fair and reciprocal access to markets, such as South Korean automobiles, that are now imported into Canada from those markets.
• Introduce environmental, human rights and labour standards into all trade agreements.
• Enshrine the right of nations to defend their cultural industries.

With changes in NAFTA almost certain to be proposed by the next president of the United States, and with reform initiatives also growing in Mexico, it is critical for Canada to be pro-active in working with these powerful new currents and with concerned Canadians. We must ensure that NAFTA is reformed in ways that meet our priorities:

• Renegotiate NAFTA’s Chapter 11, which unreasonably limits Canada’s sovereignty in regulating foreign investment in the public interest.
• Renegotiate NAFTA’s Chapter 6, which unreasonably limits Canadian sovereignty over its energy resources and may prevent Canadian energy security.
• Negotiate changes to NAFTA’s dispute resolution mechanisms so Canadian interests are respected— including through the application of international law rather than US law in anti-dumping and subsidy disputes.
• Stop the hollowing out of Canadian industries by strengthening the Investment Canada Act. Foreign takeovers of Canadian companies will be subject to stringent tests respecting job protection and creation, head office location, and the promotion of research and development in Canada.