[Mb-civic] CBC News - FREE TRADE KEY TO FIGHTING POVERTY: MARTIN

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FREE TRADE KEY TO FIGHTING POVERTY: MARTIN
WebPosted Fri Nov  4 17:32:44 2005

---Prime Minister Paul Martin defended free trade at the Summit of
Americas in Argentina Friday, saying it's the best way to fight poverty.

Martin told his fellow hemispheric leaders that the summit's original
focus, the expansion of free trade, is still valid and defended the idea
against critics who charge it exploits workers and the poor.

"A Free Trade Agreement of the Americas is not about making the
hemisphere safe for capitalists. It is about providing opportunities for
our workers, and better goods and services for our consumers, from the
bottom rung of the income ladder to the top.

"Freer and fairer trade will lift more human beings out of poverty than
all of the assistance programs in the world combined."

Martin's speech contrasted with the words spoken by Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez, who brought a crowd of thousands to its feet with a marathon
speech decrying colonialism, imperialism and U.S. policy.

Chavez said the idea of creating a free trade area of the Americas is
dead.

"The planet "is being destroyed under our own noses by the capitalist
model, the destructive engine of development," Chavez said, adding that
"every day there is more hunger, more misery thanks to the neo-liberal,
capitalist model."

While Martin was at the summit preaching expanded free trade to opponents
like Chavez, he was also trying to persuade the U.S. to comply with
existing trade agreements.

Earlier in the day at a meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox,
Martin took a thinly veiled dig at U.S. President George W. Bush's
administration and its position on softwood lumber, saying free trade
won't work if any one player decides to ignore the rules.

"The fact is that President Fox, myself, President Bush, all of us
believe strongly in the free trade of the Americas. But we know that
it's got to be based on rules – and rules that are listened to,"
Martin said.

Martin's government has criticized Washington for ignoring a NAFTA ruling
that U.S. tariffs imposed on Canadian softwood imports are unjustified.

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