US Trade Rep orders Canada to comply with the dead-and-buried ACTA treaty, Canada rolls over and wets itself

Do you remember ACTA? It was a broad, Internet-destroying copyright treaty, negotiated with unprecedented secrecy (even Congress and the European Parliament were not allowed to know what was going on in the negotiations -- though CEOs of beer and fertilizer companies were kept apprised on a running basis). Well, ACTA died when the people of the world rejected it, marching by the thousands in the streets, and governments refused to ratify it.

But now it's back. The US Trade Representative gave marching orders to Canada's Harper government, and it has introduced a bill that would force Canadians to obey the provisions in ACTA, even though ACTA no longer exists. From EFF's Maira Sutton:

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) posted its 2013 Trade Policy Agenda and 2012 Trade Policy Report, which covers all of its ongoing negotiations over trade agreements. It reports that the US is working with Japan and other negotiating parties “to ensure that ACTA can come into force as soon as possible,” and encourages Canada “to meet its [ACTA] obligations.”

Canada did not miss a beat to satisfy this demand. The Canadian government introduced a bill today to make Canada compliant with provisions of ACTA, paving the way for its eventual ratification. Among the provisions outlined within the 52-page bill are increased criminalization of copyright and trademark law as well as a new authority for Canadian customs officials to seize and destroy goods they can determine to be “counterfeit or pirated goods” without any judicial oversight.

US Trade Office Calls ACTA Back From the Dead and Canada Complies

• [Kyle Clements]

  I for one am absolutely sick of the Harper government bending over backwards to meet the demands US trade groups at the expense of Canadian citizens.

  • [Alan Ball]

    Me too and I’m not even canadian. 

  • [artao]

    I feel for ya and apologize for my country’s behavior.
    I’m sick and tired of my country being the bullies of the world. We’re tryin to change that, but it ain’t goin so well as you may have noticed.

  • [Sigmund_Jung]

    As an immigrant about to file for citizenship, I must say I expected Canada to be more like… well… Canada. Could I consider this a breach of contract regarding my immigration process?

• [williamhereford]

  Hey Canadians,

  Fuck you for thinking you aren’t American.

  Sincerely,
  US Trade Office

  PS: Keep your citizenry inline or we will contact our friend in the White House and have him drone the shit out of them for us, er, you.

  • [Sean Snyder]

    It’s unfortunate that lobbyists fail worldwide, so somehow a Government Agency thinks its wise to start pressuring other countries to do what the lobbyists couldn’t convince the government to do because the people expressly prohibited it. 

    Takes corruption to a whole new level.

• [Mike Kenny]

  We keep getting sold out again to other countries against our own best intrest I’m getting really damn tired of this.

• [Rindan]

  Canada, we love you as America’s hat.  That said, your duties as America’s hat do not actually include getting down on all fours and taking it from us.  Just say no.

• [Zoran Scout Ivancic]

  great title!

• [KeithWilliams]

  The Canadian people need to fight this. There is no way one government should be able to force its will on another countries citizens.

• [abstract_reg]

  Harper: Canadian sovereignty! (except if the US uses the words “trade” or “economy”)

• [obbop]

  Obey the ruling elites and their politician and bureaucrat lackeys.

  OBEY!!!!!!!!

  Failure to do so can have extreme penalties.

  “There has been class warfare going on,” Buffett, 81, said in a Sept. 30 interview with Charlie Rose on PBS. It’s just that my class is winning. And my class isn’t just winning, I mean we’re killing them.”

  “While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks,” Buffett wrote in a Sunday New York Times Op-ed. 

• [MyPetGloat]

  Harper is rolling over for China, so this is par for the course.  Besides, he agrees with the dead act so he doesn’t consider it rolling over.   Currently, the useless Reformers are negotiating our sovereignty away with the Europeans in a another free trade fiasco. Our banking system and all of its protections are on the negotiating table. The same ones that insulated us from the economic meltdown of 2008. 

• [Rob H]

  As a Canadian I have long suspected this Harper character is actually a membrer of the Bush family in a rubber mask

• [Martin]

  The Conservatives in power in Ottawa made me a Quebec separatist.

  • [Steve]

    You seriously think the PQ is better? 

    “They may not be good at managing the economy, but at least they’re racist!”

    • [Martin]

      The last time Quebec’s debt didn’t grow was when the PQ was in power (the finance minister is now the leader). The PQ is the only party which is not afraid to shake things up and fight corruption.

      Tell me what is your definition of racism. PQ has always been pro-immigration and they are the ones who push for Quebecois to learn a 3rd language on top of French & English. PQ ain’t no CAQ. It’s easy to believe the falsities the monarchists of the G&M or Macleans write. I seriously think that if PQ found a way to cure cancer, they would still find matter to complain about!

      • [Steve]

        In what insane universe can preventing government employees from wearing religious iconography **except for Christian paraphernalia** NOT be considered racist?

        Also, they don’t push the Quebecois to learn English. They actively make it harder for the Quebecois to learn English. Not that that’s racist, but it’s pretty stupid.

        And the debt will be growing plenty fast enough now they’re giving truckloads of money to the Office quebecois de la langue francaise to make Italian restaurants take “pasta” off of their menus.