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What the Government Won't Tell You Today About the Canada - EU Trade Agreement

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Friday April 27, 2012
The government is launching an all-out blitz on the proposed Canada - European Union Trade Agreement today with no less than 18 events planned across the country featuring 16 cabinet ministers and parliamentary secretaries. The speeches will emphasize the benefits of the proposed agreement to many areas of the economy, yet what is most noteworthy is what won't be discussed. Industry Minister Christian Paradis is speaking, but he won't be discussing copyright, patents, pharmaceuticals, or cultural policy as his speech will emphasize the pork industry. Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore won't be talking about culture either as his speech is slated to focus on fish and seafood. And Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq is missing from the slate altogether.

The reason for the omissions are essential to understanding one of the primary sticking points with CETA. While the government says the deal is 75% completed, negotiators have consistently indicated that they left the toughest issues to the end. Those include rules of origin, agriculture, immigration and visa issues, and intellectual property.

The CETA intellectual property chapter leaked in 2010, revealing that the EU is seeking a complete overhaul of Canada's IP laws. Initial demands on copyright included:
  • compliance with WIPO Internet treaties
  • extension of the term of copyright to life of the author plus 70 years (Canadian law currently at life plus 50 years)
  • additional copyright term extensions for audiovisual works, anonymous works, and unpublished works
  • term of copyright for broadcasts for at least 50 years (Canada wants to limit to wireless broadcasts, while EU wants it to cover everything)
  • greater transparency for copyright collectives
  • new resale right for works of art
  • new exclusive right of fixation for broadcasts (Canada wants to limit to wireless broadcasts, while EU wants it to cover everything)
  • new exclusive right for broadcasters for retransmission in public places (ie. new fees for bars and other public places)
  • new distribution right
  • extension of the reproduction right to performers and broadcasters
  • extension of the communications right for performers, phonogram producers, film producers, and broadcasters.
  • anti-circumvention rules including provisions against devices that can be used to circumvent digital locks
  • protection for rights management information
While some of these demands may have changed during the negotiations - the negotiations are still shrouded in secrecy - the agreement would clearly require reforms that go well beyond Bill C-11 (which the government says strikes the right balance). The agreement also includes major reforms to IP enforcement, trademarks, patents, and geographic indications.

In June 2011, a Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment funded by the European Commission was released. That report included the following analysis on the impact of the IP provisions on Canada:
  • IPR-related provisions of CETA could have, at best, a minor positive impact on Canadian growth. Depending on their specific content, they could even have an adverse impact on the Canadian economy. 
  • The impact of IPR provisions in CETA on overall employment is likely to be minor.
  • The Canadian trade balance would not necessarily benefit from IP provisions in CETA. Trade in specific goods, that are currently freely marketed and exported from Canada, could be adversely affected. For example,  several Canadian companies brand and export their products with labels that could be considered as European geographical indications. These companies could lose market shares in domestic and foreign markets if they are forced to abandon their commercially significant labels. In sum, both Canadian exports and imports might be slightly and negatively impacted, but only in specific sectors.
  • it is very likely that the CETA will worsen the Canadian deficit in its balance of royalties and license fees.
  • the public sector, as a consumer of IPR-protected goods, might face additional spending, notably for educational books (educational institutions accounted for 23.4% of book sales revenues in Canada) and pharmaceutical products (the public sector finances 45% of prescribed drug expenditure).
It is not only European analysis that has found significant new costs associated with CETA for Canada. The Drummond Report on the Ontario economy included the following dire warning about CETA:

The outcome of the negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement with the European Union could have significant impact on the cost of prescription drugs in Ontario. A key negotiating point, the extension of Canadian patent protections for pharmaceutical drugs to European standards, could cost Ontario taxpayers up to $1.2 billion annually ($551 million for the Ontario government and $672 million for the private sector), thus wiping out gains from recent drug reforms. The province should work with the federal government to ensure that a CETA does not undermine Ontario’s interest in expanding the use of generic drugs.

Given these studies, it should come as no surprise that the government's CETA blitz conveniently omits discussing the enormous negative impact the IP provisions will have on the Canadian economy. They also help explain why the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage recommended last year that the government "ensure that domestic copyright policies are not part of any present or future trade negotiations."
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pat donovan said:

bottle neck
Intellectual property is rapidly turning into a bottle neck that'll choke us all.

From monopoly to interest.. (DVDs + DRM, etc) unless you're a gov't. THEN you get unlimited rights to privacy, property and freedom of info.

With monsanto riding point against the infidels, naturally.

The $5 dvds from china didn't impress the right people and our economy will choke itself to death... (inter-provincial free trade not withstanding).. Unless the pollution and waste don't get us first. (Mutant plants from Japan's little rad leak are turning up now too)

Murder vs slavery... as in paternalistic patents vs murderous anarchy of a free (invisible hands-offs) market.

This is mercantile capitalism.. not adventurism or investment.

and they tend to die when the resources run out.

packrat
April 27, 2012

Richard Furlong said:

CEO/Founder, public-sector-lists.com
Michael,I am a fan.

You have important information to share.

Please add Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook icons to enable everyone's greater distribution of your timely messages.

I would love to add your messages to our network in Canada and abroad.

Thanks,

Richard Furlong/CEO
phone: 416-630-3679
http://public-sector-lists.com
http://government-lists.blogspot.ca/
https://twitter.com/#!/government_list
April 27, 2012

Byte said:

Shhhh! Don't talk about that which shall not be named!
Yes, we know. But ye average Canadian doesn't. And "don't ask, don't tell" has been working fine for the last few decades. There's NOTHING to be gained by mainstream politicians to raise an issue, so they just worry about the trendy issues of the moment. Let sleeping dogs lie.

Wasn't the last election the first time that anything relating to digital rights was raised in a (unfortunately untelevised) debate?

Richard (see above) is right - it's up to us to create awareness on the social media: #CETA

...and don't forget the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement)!
April 27, 2012

end user said:

...
Sheesh lets not talk about the ones who are giving us gifts ehm bribes and civil positions when we get out of office.

So all I can gather from this is the gov has shifted from working for the people to people working for the gov.
April 28, 2012

Doug Webb said:

IPR Idiotic Property Rights
It would help if the Conservatives would build policy on sound research instead of wishful thinking.
April 29, 2012

jv said:

Wrong time
This is the wrong time for Canada to be getting into this trade deal. The Eurozone is likely to break up. When it starts unravelling the value of the Euro will collapse making Canadian goods more expensive. At the same time it will drive Europe farther into recession meaning less demand from Europe. They need us right now way more than we need them.
April 30, 2012

The Mad Knacker said:

Politicians at their finest
In recent history, the amount of rights-taking has never been matched - in Alberta, the government now has the "right" to expropriate any land for any reason, without recourse - and the government seems determined to hand private commerce Canadian's rights on a charger.

Under the terms of copyright we'd be under if either ACTA, TPP or the EU-Canada deal are ratified:

- LM Montgomery's works wouldn't have been public domain until January 1st, 2012
- Peter and The Wolf, by Sergei Prokofiev, wouldn't be public domain until 2023
- JRR Tolkein's works wouldn't be public domain until 2043
- Mordicei Richler's works will be locked up until 2071
- C-11's DRM-protecting measures _would_ be enforced against jailbreakers and hardware modders (and against people who disable UEFI in order to install Linux)
- Format shifting media would be illegal, in addition to outlawing pmedia players on Linux.

Jefferson was reputed to say "He would give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary security deserves neither.", but today, it would sound more like "Those who would take the public's essential liberty to obtain a temporary monopoly deserve nothing, save gaol."

In the words of Obelix, "These people are crazy!"
April 30, 2012

JCubedS said:

Not really a Free Trade Deal is it?
Why is this called a 'Free Trade Deal' when it looks like Canada will be paying for this trade deal?

Granted, I have not read any part of this deal, but is any part of this deal going to be beneficial to Canadians? Is this deal, overall, benefit Canada?

So far, it looks like what the government isn't willing to talk about is a pretty hefty price. What they are willing to talk bout should be damn amazing to Canada to offset the other parts.
April 30, 2012

Jack Robinson said:

And Since When Does New Rome Deign to Dialogue with the Rabble?
Excellent piece, Mr. Geist... especially in the scope and detail of CETA's potentially sinister ramifications re: Canada's sovereign rights and obligations to ensure Net Benefit principles to both Foreign Market Trade AND Domestic Public Works ownership, control and operations. But as often the case when I visit these pages, I'm disheartened that, The Usual Corporate and Friedmanite Free Market Suspects' Agendas aside... These issues have recieved little or no mainstream media face-time, and except for the Council of Canadians website... have caused negligible rancour or concern amongst Canada's Jacked-In But Clued-Out Poxed Vox Populi.

May 02, 2012

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