On August 16th, UQAM's Center for Studies on Integration and Globalization (CEIM) is launching its pan-Canadian public consultations entitled «Canada: Towards a Socially Responsible Trade Policy». The objective of these public consultations is to determine what Canadians think about the relevance of certain trade measures that could be adopted by the Government of Canada.
Canada is currently in the process of reopening NAFTA, in addition to negotiating several trade agreements particularly with China and Mercosur. Even though certain social clauses have been adopted within these international instruments, their implementation remains negligible. How could such instruments become more socially responsible bringing globalization and social progress in sync?
This consultation aims to inform the public on the social dimension of international trade, leading a pan-Canadian discussion on «socially responsible» trade policy instruments, making recommendations to the Government of Canada on these issues, thus, contributing to research on global labour governance, especially through publications and networking activities with Canadian experts.
In this political context and within the framework of its research on Global Labour Governance, the public consultation process lead by the CEIM focuses on:
- measures relating to social clauses in trade agreements
- social conditionality of the generalized system of preferences
- banning on imports of goods produced by forced labour or the worst forms of child labour.
The website allows Canadians to participate in the consultation by taking the online survey (until October 15, 2017).
It is also possible to register and attend the consultation sessions in five Canadian cities.
