By Elizabeth Marshall ——Bio and Archives--December 15, 2023

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Having taken time to read over the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Deal (CUFTA), it seems, this deal is not a very good deal for anyone – Canadians or Ukrainians. Not only does this agreement seem an attempt to bind future Canadian governments, it also seems to violate provincial jurisdiction.

Firstly, if you heat with firewood this really restricts you, as it was agreed, in 2016, by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Barack Obama, and President Enrique Peña Nieto, to reduce “black carbon” which includes deploying renewable energy and efficiency alternatives to firewood, in particular, remote communities.[1] With the CUFTA agreement, Parties are attempting to restrict their citizens from using firewood, to heat their homes (see Article 13.14 of the agreement).

Secondly, this agreement contradicts itself as to whether it is binding or not. In Article 13.3 it states that “the Parties recognize the sovereign right of each Party to establish its own levels of domestic environmental protection and its own environmental priorities, and to establish, adopt, or modify its environmental laws........

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