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from the which-way-tot-he-chicken-coop dept.
Jim Balsillie of BlackBerry fame has come out against the TPP.
From the CBC article:
Jim Balsillie warns that provisions tucked into the Trans-Pacific Partnership could cost Canada hundreds of billions of dollars — and eventually make signing it the worst public policy decision in the country's history.
After poring over the treaty's final text, the businessman who helped build Research In Motion into a $20-billion global player said the deal contains "troubling" rules on intellectual property that threaten to make Canada a "permanent underclass" in the economy of selling ideas.
...
And unlike legislation passed in Parliament, he noted treaties like this one set rules that must be followed forever. This deal, he added, also features "iron-clad" dispute mechanisms.
"I'm worried and I don't know how we can get out of this," said Balsillie, who's also helping guide the creation of a lobby group that would press for the needs of Canada's innovation sector.
"I think our trade negotiators have profoundly failed Canadians and our future innovators. I really lament it."
(Score: 2) by hash14 on Tuesday November 10 2015, @11:00PM
It has already been ratified (in the US), via the Trade Promotion Authority bill. There, it now has to be de-ratified.
The agreement was essentially approved before it was written. And you can bet your ass that it being approved prior to finalization is what allowed the criminals writing it to put even more absurd things that they knew they would get away with.