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26 Rev. Quebecoise de Droit Int'l 1 (2013)

handle is hein.journals/revue26 and id is 1 raw text is: LABOUR RIGHTS AND THE CANADA/COLOMBIA FTA: A
FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED CULTURE
Pierre-Alexandre Cardinal*
From talks around the issue of the Generalized System of Preferences and more recent talks on bilateral and
multilateral FTAs, the linkage between the promotion of universal labour rights and trade has been on the
agenda of policy makers, and integrated into most FTAs. In the case of the recent Canada-Colombia Free
Trade Agreement (CCFTA), Canadian officials negotiated the inclusion of a side agreement on labour
cooperation (ALC) in order to deepen ties between the two countries, and support Colombian workers, who
face severe repression by government and paramilitary forces. The current essay will bring forward and
deepen the critiques formulated by civil society actors against CCFTA, and argue that the guarantees given
by the agreement and the ALC are fundamentally flawed using an examination of the underlying meaning
of the words of the agreement. By taking a structural approach, it will be argued that the general culture and
habitus developed through the interests and usage of symbolic capital of structural actors have a central
effect on the FTA and its ALC by completely altering the meaning of their language. Such a critique offers
a relevant standpoint in the context of the on-going discussions revolving around the Trans-Pacific
Partnership, and the general expansion of global integration through FTAs.
Des n6gociations entourant la question du Systeme des preferences g6n6ralis6es et de discussions plus
recentes pour la conclusion d'accords de libre-6change bilateraux et multilateraux, la question du lien
causal entre la promotion d'un droit du travail universel et le commerce est demeurde d'actualitd. Dans le
recent cas du Trait6 de libre-6change Canada-Colombie (TLECC), les autorites canadiennes ont 116 au
document un accord parallele pour la cooperation dans le domaine du travail (APCDT) dans le but
d'accroitre les liens entre les deux Etats et d'ainsi supporter les travailleurs colombiens, reuvrant dans un
contexte de repression constante par les forces gouvernementales et paramilitaires. Toutefois, le present
essai optera pour une approche critique qui proposera et developpera les oppositions de la soci6t6 civile au
TLECC en avanqant que les garanties l6gales accorddes par le trait6 et 1'APCDT sont fondamentalement
biais6es, et ce en regardant les structures de significations langagieres sous-jacentes au texte. En prenant un
point de vue structumliste, il sera propose que la culture gendrale et l'habitus qui se sont d6velopp6s par les
interactions structurelles des acteurs en cause et l'usage de leur capital symbolique ont eu un effet central
sur le sens du TLECC et de son APCDT en alterant completement le sens de leur langage. Une telle
perspective est d'actualit6 dans le contexte present des n6gociations sur le Partenariat Trans-Pacifique, et de
la croissance de l'intdgration dconomique mondiale a travers les traites de libre-6change.
*   The author is a recent graduate of the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Social Sciences of the
University of Ottawa, where he acquired both Civil (LL.L.) and Common Law (J.D.) degrees, as well
as a Bachelor in Social Sciences, specialized in International Development and Globalization (B.S.Sc.
Hon. DVM). His main research interests revolve around critical studies of International Law, and more
specifically, questions of development, social movements and political theory.

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