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Saturday, October 10th

Join us for a caravan and rally at Liberal MP Bob Rae’s Toronto Centre office to protest the Harper-Liberal party alliance to ratify a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia.

11:00 am-Car/bicycle caravan departs from south-west corner of Allen Gardens Park (Carlton & Sherbourne Sts.).

11:30 am-Rally @ Bob Rae's Constituency Office, 514 Parliament Street (Carlton & Parliament Sts.).

Background

The Canadian House of Commons is debating Bill-C23, to implement the CCFTA. The Harper government, with crucial Liberal party support, is committed to implementing the CCFTA and throwing right-wing Colombian president Alvaro Uribe a political lifeline, despite his corrupt, discredited regime and egregious human rights record. Two Liberal MPs in particular, Bob Rae and Scott Brisson, have shown themselves to be strong supporters of the CCFTA.

Come and tell our elected officials that we are opposed to the ratification of the CCFTA. It has no effective, binding mechanisms to safeguard labour, human rights and the environment. Like Mexico's NAFTA, it will negatively impact small and medium-sized producers who are among the most marginalized in Colombia. It will mainly safeguard investors' rights, especially Canadian energy and mining corporations that are active in conflict-zones. CAFTA will aggravate internal displacement, which at close to 4 million people, is already an alarming humanitarian crisis. At minimum, the Liberal party should honour its earlier stated commitment to a full independent human rights impact assessment before further consideration is given to a trade agreement with Colombia.

Organized by: Colombia Action Solidarity Alliance (CASA), Toronto Chapter Council of Canadians & Latin American Solidarity Network (LASN)/Endorsed by:CUPE Ontario

For more Information: esguerra @vif.com 416.651.2409

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