Re: FTAA: My two cents worth

[Ed Weick]

I've thought about Aurthur's question of what Canadians should be doing to keep agreements like the FTAA under control.  What I would suggest is that a better way of going about things than protesting on the streets of Quebec City is getting right into the heart of things.  We have a parliamentary system in Canada, and it has worked reasonably well in the past, but it is now rapidly becoming a one party system, dominated by a party of the centre which can ooze into whatever space appears expedient to it.  Important issues hardly need to be debated.  The right, which is also the official opposition, is imploding and disintegrating over its leadership.  It's only power base is the west; it is simply not credible to most Canadians, including many westerners.   The left was once a powerful force throughout Canada, but is now confined to only a few areas, mainly the east coast and the prairies.   Free traders would fit well with the right.  It was the right that originally brought in NAFTA.  The kinds of issues which the protesters presented in Quebec could easily become key issues for the left.  If they got off the streets and became a force within it, the debate could take place in parliament under the watchful eye of all Canadians.  That, in my opinion, is where it belongs.  I'm sure the left, badly in need of both members and ideas, would welcome most of the protesters with welcome arms.   Ed Weick   Visit my rebuilt website at: http://members.eisa.com/~ec086636/ ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2001 8:29 AM Subject: RE: FTAA: My two cents worth Ed W and Victor Milne exchange,   snip..... I believe, to borrow the phrasing of a famous resolution in the British House of Commons, the power of corporations has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished. Surely, WTO, MAI, NAFTA and FTAA are none of them effective means of diminishing the power of corporations.   Then surely it’s up to us as citizens to make sure that civil society is able to keep things under control.   Ed Weick      How?  What should Canadians be doing to "keep things under control?"   Arthur Cordell