Don Healy, Leader-Post / Union members and representatives from the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, CUPE, and the Council of Canadians and the general public protested the upcoming World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Cancun, Mexico.
Concerns that the future of Crown corporations could be threatened in the latest round of negotiations by the World Trade Organization were expressed in Regina Tuesday.
More than 100 demonstrators rallied in front of the SaskPower headquarters to make the point that the trade ministers participating in the WTO talks should "keep their hands off our Crown corporations.''
Larry Hubich, the president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, said the SFL opposes any international trade agreement that would open Crown corporations up to competition from profit-making multi-national utility companies.
Foreign corporations were nowhere to be seen many years ago when electrical power and other utility services were being extended across the province, Hubich told the crowd.
Those utilities "were built by Saskatchewan people, for Saskatchewan people,'' Hubich said, adding that there is no place for foreign corporations to get involved now in Saskatchewan utilities.
But William Kerr, a professor of agriculture economics at the University of Saskatchewan, doubts there will be anything negotiated by the WTO that would threaten Crowns.
"I don't think there's much to worry about,'' Kerr said, in a telephone interview from Saskatoon.
Many other countries in the world have -- and want to continue to have -- Crown (or government-owned) corporations, Kerr said.
And it would therefore be unlikely that any trade agreement would be negotiated that would lead to the demise of Crown corporations, Kerr said. The WTO negotiations have a potential to produce positive results for Saskatchewan, Kerr said.
For example, it would be very helpful if the trade negotiations reduce agricultural subsidies in Europe and elsewhere that have depressed the world price of wheat, Kerr said.
Trade ministers from countries around the world were scheduled to begin five days of discussions today at a meeting of the WTO in Cancun, Mexico.
Tuesday's demonstration in front of the SaskPower Building was organized by the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour in conjunction with the Council of Canadians.
Ron Carlson, an administrative vice-president with the Communication, Energy and Communications Workers of Canada, said Saskatchewan residents are overwhelmingly in favour of Crown corporations. People in other provinces where Crown corporations have been privatized have seen jobs disappear while utility and car insurance rates have increased, Carlson said.
Gord Gunoff, the business manager with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), said the WTO isn't the only threat to Crown corporations.
"We probably have barbarians at the gates in Saskatchewan,'' said Gunoff, who noted that a provincial election appears to be fast approaching.
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