TAKE ACTION NOW!
Share your views on what a fair trade future means by sending a message to the Parliamentary committee responsible for trade, and letting your own Member of Parliament know that you do not support seeing the deal ratified.
Before you get started, Unifor's Canadian Council adopted a position paper in 2014 outlining what a truly fair trade deal looks like, including 12 core principles for assessing trade deals. To help you in your lobby efforts, a summary of those principles can be found here. Unifor's Guide Book on lobbying is a great resource for tips on talking to politicians and others about any issue.
Email and follow the Trade Committee
The federal Standing Committee on International Trade is mandated to review Canada's trade deals. It needs to hear from ordinary Canadians.
Follow this link and send an email to the committee.
You can keep track of the committee's activities by clicking here.
Email your Member of Parliament
In order for any trade deal to go into effect, it needs to be ratified by Members of Parliament in a vote in the House of Commons. It is important, then, that your Member of Parliament hear from you and know that you expect your government to only negotiate and ratify trade deals that put the needs of working people first, and do not simply serve as a way to pass more power to corporations.
Trade deals must be about how trade helps Canadians, and not the corporate rights deals we have been given under the guise of free trade.
To email or tweet a message to your own MP, find contact information here.
Lobby Kit
To help you and your volunteers out in these efforts, be sure to check out Unifor's Guide book on lobbying. Please also record your encounters with the easy to use Lobby Report form. As well, Parliament has a website to help you find the contact information for your local Member of Parliament:
- Lobby Guide booklet
- Lobby Report form
- Find your local Member of Parliament here
- Unifor discussion paper, Imagining a Fair Trade Future