Acronym causes concern

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by Wayne Hiltz

GATS--the General Agreement on Trade in Services--is the latest globalization treaty coming to a city or town near you.

A newly formed Montreal coalition is warning about the dangers GATS poses for municipal democracy and the privatization of services. "GATS is going to impact municipalities more than anything else since they're the closest to people," says Nadia Alexan, coordinator of the Montreal Coalition to Protect Municipal Democracy. "It's a euphemism for privatization of public services such as water supply, sewage treatment, health, safety and garbage disposal."

With "national treatment" and "least restrictive" trade clauses, foreign suppliers of basic services would have the same rights as domestics. Subsidies and grants to local businesses would also be limited, she adds.

Canada is now negotiating the GATS treaty, but has so far refused municipalities' requests for details. More than 60 cities across the country--including Vancouver, Ottawa, and Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue--have already declared themselves GATS-free zones.

Initiated by the local Council of Canadians chapter, the Green Party of Quebec, Alternatives, the Urban Ecology Centre, SOS Santé and the Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides have climbed aboard the anti-GATS bandwagon.

Alexan hopes to make it an election issue by circulating a petition and talking to as many megacity candidates as possible. At a recent mayoral debate, she says that Gérald Tremblay expressed concern about the encroachment of multinational companies on the public domain. Mayor Bourque, she says, was rather unreceptive.

For more information, consult www.coalitiondemocratie.org.