Trading away the future?:

...The U.S...

...In this context, a number of observers feel that as a result of the debates, and of the Tories' strenuous denials that social programs are on the block, it would be politically impossible for the Tories, even with their comfortable majority, to let Canada's social programs be eroded by the trade agreement...

...Women's groups and church representatives fear pressure to "harmonize" Canadian social programs with the less universal and much less generous ones in the United States...

...Mulroney's handlers kept him carefully isolated from the public and the press...

...Pierre Trudeau's brand of federalism...

...Yet care was taken to allow the American approach to regional disparity-allocation of defense contracts-to continue in both countries...

...If they don't buckle under in contract negotiations, the threat is always there that the company may move to friendlier climates where unions are not a problem...

...The Conservatives began the campaign before the elections were called with billions of dollars in special projects around the country, particularly in Quebec...

...In addition to problems with the trade deal, many grassroots groups simply do not trust the Tories...

...company paying double the amount for a health service package than a similar company in Ontario has to pay may feel that the Canadian company is being subsidized...

...law has been fairly applied...

...This is to be the subject of ongoing discussions over the next seven years, and as opponents of the deal point out, Canada has nothing left to bargain with...

...Then there is the Meech Lake Accord, a controversial constitutional agreement that "brought Quebec into the constitution" (the Quebec provincial government had refused to accept Mr...

...Opposition doubts stem from the fact that under the agreement, U.S...

...This was supported by both opposition parties, but it was Mr...

...In the heat of the debate over the trade deal, other issues were lost in the shuffle...

...The Meech Lake Accord not only recognizes Quebec as "a separate and distinct society" (which it certainly is), but also in effect gives Quebec-and any other province-a veto over any future constitutional changes...

...In a very real sense, this is as it should be...

...The opposition Liberals were dramatically swept into a tie position in the polls...

...This was the result of a number of factors, not the least of which is Quebec nationalist sentiment...

...JORDAN BISHOP Jordan Bishop teaches in the University College of Cape Breton, Sydney, Nova Scotia...

...Whether this will be considered a subsidy under American law is not clear...

...Another problem arises from Canada's subsidies to certain regions of the country...

...The difficulty arises from the fact that a U.S...

...At this point the business interests mobilized a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign in support of the trade deal, while an opposition coalition consisting of assorted Canadian nationalists, trade unions, women's organizations, environmentalists, church, agriculture, and cultural groups campaigned against it...

...Even as the election campaigns were in progress, an American company was enticed to Cape Breton Island by a $6 million capital grant from the Atlantic Provinces Opportunities Agency, a sum equal to the capital provided by the American company...

...Mulroney's hold on Quebec was a key factor in the Tory majority...

...In addition, a lot of federal money was poured into Quebec...

...Halfway through the seven-week campaign, Liberal leader John Turner's forceful presentation of the case against the Mulroney-Reagan bilateral trade deal-usually referred to by its supporters as the "Free Trade Agreement"-brought this issue to the center of the campaign...

...Subsidies are also allowed in the development of energy resources- another area in which Americans have a strong interest...

...Mulroney has, in this deal, bought a pig in a poke...

...The deal-or half deal, since some of the most important provisions in it are yet to be defined-was fought for the most part on a class basis, although Canadians were typically too polite to allude to this in public...

...has given up little or nothing...

...Mulroney's agreement...

...The dispute-settling mechanism is only empowered to determine whether or not U.S...

...This was followed, once the elections were called, with a tightly structured Madison Avenue media campaign, in which Mr...

...In a three-party race, the Tories, four years after their 1984 landslide, chalked up a comfortable majority with 170 seats in the 295-seat House of Commons, with an impressive 43 percent of the popular vote...

...REPORT FROM CANADA TRADING AWAY THE FUTURE BUSINESS BUYS A MAJORITY What have been touted as the most impor-tant general elections since 1911 have just resulted in a comfortable majority for Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Conservatives...

...It would not be under GATT rules, since it is a universal program rather than a subsidy to a particular region or sector...

...It is extremely doubtful that this kind of targeted regional subsidy would be allowed under the trade deal...

...The way that the trade deal develops and is defined will determine the shape of Canada's future, and possibly her very existence as a separate nation...

...Unions fear that the "level playing field" and the mobility provided for capital will mean open season on unions, who will be competing with Puerto Rico, Georgia, and Mexico's maquiladoras...

...This first appeared in the 1964 elections in a fairly solid rejection of the remnants of Mr...

...But it was in fact big business against almost everyone else...

...Trudeau's version of a repatriated federal constitution...

...The Conservatives, with strong support both from Robert Bourassa's provincial Liberal party and the separatist parti Quebecois, carried the rest: 63 of Quebec's 75 seats...

...companies "national status" in financial and other services...

...If the Canadian enabling legislation is passed, as it undoubtedly will be now, Canada will be locked into a trade agreement that has no definition of subsidies...

...And while cultural industries are excepted, people in the Canadian film industry are quite upset that they have failed to gain any guaranteed access to the Canadian market, already largely controlled by American distributors...

...This is complicated by two factors...

...In fact, the Canadian company's labor costs are cheaper because Canada has an efficient, universal health insurance system...

...The Liberals who had only 40 seats in the last house, have 82, and the New Democratic Party increased their position to 43...

...As Ross Howard noted in the Toronto Globe and Mail (November 22, 1988): "A $12 billion spending spree of subsidies for eastern and western megaprojects during the three-month precampaign period was repeatedly cited as a Tory record of achievement, rather than election promises, during the campaign...

...The Liberals got little more than the English language vote in Quebec...

...When these issues were raised, the Tories angrily waved copies of the text in the faces of opposing debaters or hecklers, saying, "Look, there is nothing in the deal about these programs," while the others shouted as loudly,' 'Why are they not explicitly protected...

...Nova Scotia...

...law prevails over the agreement (while Canadians are required to bring their legislation-federal and provincial-in line with it...

...One hopes that American officials are aware that pushing too hard on this question could easily imperil the whole agreement...

...The deal removes almost all screening of investment from the U.S., and gives U.S...