April 9, 2001

Press Statement issued by the
Central Executive Committee
Communist Party of Canada

AS THE DAYS COUNT DOWN to the April 20-22 Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, support continues to swell for mass protest actions against the proposed "Free Trade Area of the Americas" (FTAA).

The U.S. and Canadian governments, the main promoters of the FTAA, are fairly confident that the heads of the 32 other national governments in the hemisphere (all except Cuba) have been pressured or cajoled into accepting this sweeping pro-corporate trade and investment deal.

But the FTAA's backers have been far less successful selling the pact to the majority of the people in the Americas. Attempts to head off protests in Quebec City through extraordinary security measures, fear-mongering and threats of repression by a massive 6,000-strong police force, seem to be backfiring. Well over 25,000 are expected in Quebec City for the April 21 mass demonstration and related actions, and thousands more at other protests across Canada. On April 8, Canada's Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew even announced that the draft text of the FTAA will be released -- but only by the time the Summit opens.

"The Canadian people are outraged by these crude tactics to stifle democracy and the right to dissent," Communist Party leader Miguel Figueroa said. "Now more people than ever are making plans to get to Quebec City.

"The FTAA would significantly strengthen corporate domination of all spheres of life. It would lower wages and living standards, and force the deregulation and privatization of what remains of public services like education and health care. The terms imposed by this treaty would also further erode social and environmental provisions, and undermine both the sovereignty of states and the democratic will of peoples and nations to determine their own future. In short, the FTAA would be a disaster for the workers and all oppressed peoples in Canada and throughout the Americas," the CPC leader said.

"No one should be fooled into believing that the inclusion of references to 'democracy', 'human rights' or to labour and environmental goals in the text will make the FTAA any more palatable. Canadians have been down that road under the Canada-U.S. 'free trade' deal and then NAFTA. We know from our own experience how hollow such promises are.

"There is no way to 'fix' or amend this deal; it must be defeated in its entirety. Only a massive mobilization of working people in Canada, the U.S. and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean can stop this deal dead in its tracks. And only such a mass people's fightback can create the basis to build the struggle for genuine alternatives to corporate globalization, alternatives that place people's needs, social development, and environmental concerns before the interests of private corporate profit.

"That's why our Party, in unison with the mass labour movement and other democratic and progressive organizations, is calling on our members and friends to mount an all-out mobilizing effort over these final days."

Hundreds of CPC members and party supporters will be going to Quebec, or participating in other anti-FTAA actions taking place across the country. The Communist Party will also distribute thousands of copies of a special party statement at the various protest events.

For up-to-date information about transportation to Quebec City, or about other anti-FTAA actions, contact the CPC offices in Toronto at 416-469-2446, the Parti communiste du Quebec at 514-745-7009, or other provincial or local offices of the CPC.

© 2001 Communist Party of Canada