Tuesday, October 02, 2018

For a Tuesday

A recap of yesterday's USMCA deal:


 
Sorry. I have been made aware that the above was actually a clip from "South Park".


Below is a transcript from the talks:
Stephen Abootman: Yeah, we did it! Celebrate, everyone! Woohoo! [the reason for everyone standing around is shown: a memorial wall on one side of the room has pictures of everyone who died during the strike. Mourners walk up with bouquets and drop them off at the table in front of the wall.]

Terrance: Hold on a minute! Wait just a second! [the music stops as Terrance holds out a calculator] We just did some calculating! By NOT working during the strike, Canadians lost more than 10.4 million dollars!

Phillip:   And our Bennigan's coupons and bubble gum is worth roughly... three thousand and eight dollars!

Stephen Abootman: Don't look at that. Come on, friends, let's dance.

Phillip:   You had no idea what you were doing and now you're trying to make it look like you won so that we won't set you adrift!

Stephen Abootman: Damn it friends, don't you see? We won for future Canadians, guy. So the little guy doesn't get pushed around anymore. This was a victory for Canada's respect. [Terrance and Phillip don't believe what they're hearing]


Again, apologies. That is actually a transcript from the same episode.


Anyway,  this is how great the Pyrrhic "victory" was for Canada:

The Liberal government emphasized its commitment to excluding Canadian cultural policy from the ambit of the agreement (which it did subject to an exception for simultaneous substitution of U.S. broadcasting), but extending the term of copyright will have a far greater impact by reducing public access to Canadian cultural heritage. Moreover, with studies indicating that the term extension could add hundreds of millions to education costs, 20 extra years of copyright protection will not come cheaply.

The government has touted a U.S. concession that will allow Canada to retain its notice-and-notice system for allegations of copyright infringement, but that was the only bright spot in a chapter that otherwise restricts future policy flexibility. The limits are particularly noticeable with respect to Canada’s anti-circumvention rules, which provide legal protections for digital locks found on electronic books or DVDs. They will be subject to trade rules that severely limit the ability for policy-makers to craft exceptions that ensure reasonable consumer access to the content for which they have paid. Canada previously insisted on the suspension of similar provisions in the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.

The IP chapter will also require Canada to rewrite legislation that was passed only a few years ago. For example, Canada’s anti-counterfeiting measures are destined for change after the USMCA included requirements to grant customs officials the power to seize suspect shipments without a court order, even if the goods are in transit and not destined to remain in Canada.

While the United States has exported some of its most restrictive copyright laws to Canada, its flexible rules that lie at the heart of its innovation policy are nowhere to be found, placing U.S. companies at a distinct advantage over their Canadian counterparts. For example, fair use, a staple of U.S. law, is not included in the USMCA. This creates an uneven playing field, where U.S. companies and creators rely on an open system of exceptions for innovative technological uses (such as text and data mining for artificial intelligence), while Canadians are confined to a limited set of purposes identified in the Copyright Act.

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The U.S. now has veto authority over any trade deal made by Canada and/or Mexico with third parties.  This is what Ambassador Lighthizer described as the “Third pillar”.




Canada will pursue deeper trade ties with China, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday as the government rejected accusations its new U.S.-Mexico trade deal ceded sovereignty over that goal to the Trump administration. ...
The new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement allows any of the countries to withdraw from the deal on six-month’s notice if one of the partners enters into a free trade agreement with a non-market economy — language widely seen as referring to China.


Yes, about that, Justin:

China’s hopes of negotiating a free trade pact with Canada or Mexico were dealt a sharp setback by a provision deep in the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that aims to forbid such deals with “non-market” countries, trade experts said on Tuesday. 
The provision specifies that if one of the current North American Free Trade Agreement partners enters a free trade deal with a “non-market” country such as China, the others can quit in six months and form their own bilateral trade pact. 

The clause, which has stirred controversy in Canada, fits in with U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to isolate China economically and prevent Chinese companies from using Canada or Mexico as a “back door” to ship products tariff-free to the United States.

He couldn't even secure one of his pointless pet causes in this, his attempts at deflection notwithstanding:

A visibly satisfied Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was touting a mammoth $40-billion investment on Tuesday, marking a sizeable win for the Liberals amid criticism that business investment in Canada has plummeted under Ottawa’s leadership.

That will make everyone forget about all of those turfed pipelines.



And if that burn wasn't enough:

Coalition Avenir Québec, a right-of-centre party that has never held power, will form a majority government in Quebec, dealing a historic blow to the incumbent Liberals. ...

The CAQ won 74 ridings while the Liberals were elected in 32. Sixty-three is required for a majority.

But they won only two seats on the island of Montreal


But they secured Papineau:

Papineau: Mathieu Lacombe (CAQ) 46.9%

This Papineau:

Papineau

Province / Territory:Quebec 
Elections Canada:Profile and Map
Member of Parliament:Right Hon. Justin Trudeau
Political Affiliation:Liberal
Preferred Language:French




Oh, it gets better:

Following his conference call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada’s other premiers, Philippe Couillard called the new agreement a “major disappointment” for Quebec. He has called a meeting of agricultural leaders and dairy producers to plan their next steps on Tuesday in Quebec City, along with the appropriate political leaders following the outcome of Monday night’s vote.

(Sidebar: that should read former premier Philippe Couillard.)

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François Legault, the premier-designate of Quebec, says he will invoke the notwithstanding clause to work around the Charter of Rights and Freedoms so that his government can ban people in positions of authority in the province from wearing religious symbols.

There's that pesky clause again.

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Jason Kenney, the leader of Alberta's United Conservative Party, applauded the Coalition Avenir Québec on its election win Monday night on Twitter, calling it "encouraging to have a new Quebec government whose explicit goal is 'to aim for zero equalization' payments."



A list of killers Canada's lawyer system has set loose.




Thank you!:

The United States tied ourselves to China to end the Cold War. That strategy was successful, but it has outlasted its purpose and, as the developments at Google show, have proved counterproductive to the sacred causes of liberty and human rights. Let’s throw in our lot with a country that shares our values and make India our primary global ally and a central counterforce against China’s totalitarian ambitions. Our reasons for doing so would be practical, moral, and mutually beneficial.

The Vulcan proverb has proven disastrous for the West.




And now, we have the technology. We can re-build him:

A Halifax neurosurgeon has performed a career first, after a young patient asked him to stitch up a beloved teddy bear while the boy recovered from surgery.




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