Trudeau Admits He Intends on Signing TPP

After months of denial, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has admitted that the Canadian government intends on signing the hugely controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The Canadian government has been in a state of denial over their position on the hugely controversial TPP. Ever since the Liberal party was running for office back in the last election, Trudeau and the Liberal party refused to say either way where they stand on the TPP. Instead, he said he is merely open to “consultation” with the Canadian people. Ever since the agreement was finalized last October, the question has always been whether Trudeau would sign off on the agreement. Even though world leaders from other countries have stated that Trudeau fully supports the agreement, the Liberal government continued to maintain that they have not made any decision on it.

Their lack of position continued to be maintained all the way up to last week, where they said that they have not committed to a decision on whether to signing off on the agreement or not. While the major Canadian media outlets fell for the position hook line and sinker, we were not convinced and have been bringing forth evidence that they supported the TPP since before the election.

That brings us up to today. Today was the first day of parliament and the first round of question period. In it, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair questioned Trudeau over his stance on the agreement while citing evidence that the agreement would cost the Canadian economy tens of thousands of jobs. It was during that exchange that Trudeau admitted that the government intends to sign off on the agreement.

While that in and of itself represented a bombshell admission, Trudeau seemed to maintain that he intends on holding consultations and that the government hasn’t decided on a position. Instead, he made the confusing statement that signing off on the agreement was required so that he could hold consultations. he also suggested that, by not signing, the Canadian government wasn’t listening to Canadians because it would represent a “no” decision.

The truth in the matter is that there are provisions in the TPP that say that by signing off on the agreement, the government agrees to ratify the provisions held within the agreement within a year or two (depending on the provisions in question). So, in essence, signing off on the agreement is actually a “yes” decision on the agreement. Since there are provisions that block tampering with the TPP during ratification, it would render any consultations useless and merely political theater. This fact was confirmed multiple times by non other than the Canadian government itself.

The Canadian media, meanwhile, have decided to just roll with this decision rather than raising any questions about this complete 180 in messaging. During a broadcast following question period, CBC’s anchor and a reporter discussed the position. The reporter stated that Trudeau needed to sign off on the agreement because then the text of the TPP could be released for everyone to read. This was a completely false statement because the text was released in full on November 5, 2015. Since the text was released for anyone to read, including us, the comment by the reporter that Trudeau needed to sign off on the agreement so he could bring the text home to Canada is a complete fabrication. Anyone could read the text in full at any time for months now, no signing required.

Ultimately, what has changed is that the story surrounding the TPP the supporters of the Canadian government has been trying to build is further falling apart. The stories being tacked on to cover up their position have become much harder to believe because even basic knowledge of the agreement would refute them at this point.

So, where Canada stands now is that the government has basically admitted his support after months of denial. Signing has become a sure thing and the only step left is ratification. For those opposed to the agreement, the situation is starting to look dire. While signing has yet to happen, once the ink dries, it will become extremely difficult for the Canadian government to back out because of the obligations found in the agreement even if they came to the realization that there are plenty of reasons to head for the hills on this one. The opposition needs to step up their game to fight this agreement and send more clear messages that the TPP is a very raw deal for Canada. The more political pressure, the better. It’s going to be an uphill battle to the bitter end, but the fight is not futile yet.

Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.

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