UPS and Canadian Union of Postal Workers begin court battle

A court battle between American courier giant UPS and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers began in Ontario last Monday after UPS accused Canada Post of unfairly violating Chapter 11 of NAFTA.

This chapter allows corporations to seek compensation when government policies are deemed to harm their businesses. According to UPS, the fact that Canada Post is publicly funded gives it an unfair advantage over private delivery companies.

This event has been widely under-reported in the media, which is a shame, considering the ramifications it could have on everything from the Canadian justice system to other publicly funded services down the road. According to trade lawyer Steven Shrybman, who’s representing the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Ottawa exceeded its constitutional authority in agreeing to this provision of NAFTA, and he expressed concerns that “Foreign investors have been given the right to invoke international dispute processes that operate entirely behind closed doors and outside the framework of Canadian law and our court system.” Critics have also voiced their concerns that international law does not allow private companies to sue governments for damages.

The Council of Canadians has also joined the fight, saying that this could set the precedent for future challenges against everything from the CBC to our healthcare system.

While this point of view may seem a tad alarmist, it echoes the concerns of those who originally fought against NAFTA, and certainly isn’t outside the realm of possibility.

As such, maybe it’s time for Canada to rethink its role in NAFTA. While it would probably do more harm than good for us to remove ourselves from the agreement entirely at this point, some revisions are definitely in order, and perhaps the upcoming meeting between Canada, the United States, and Mexico to discuss the agreement is just the place to raise our concerns. After all, we shouldn’t feel like we have to fight desperately to save our public services from American corporations when the United States isn’t even willing to follow rulings in favour of Canadian softwood lumber exports.

Prime Minister Paul Martin is pushing for a stronger dispute mechanism within NAFTA, but this won’t be enough to protect Canada in the long run. It’s time to revisit Chapter 11, along with the entire agreement, and fight for our juridical sovereignty. Canada cannot and should not be part of an agreement that violates our legal system and our constitution, and it’s time for Martin to make this clear.

Because, as National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians Maude Barlow put it, “UPS claims that simply by having a public postal system, Canada is allowing unfair competition. By this logic, every public service from healthcare to education to the CBC could face similar lawsuits. We don’t intend to let foreign corporations destroy our public services without a fight.”

The government should be on the front lines in this fight, not only to protect our public services, but to protect the sovereignty of our constitution on the international stage. Otherwise, next thing you know Fox will be seeking damages from the CBC.