Good afternoon. I'd like to begin today by offering my congratulations.

This was supposed to be a landmark month for multinational corporations and international investors.

It was supposed to the month when representatives from the world's wealthiest countries gathered together to sign a new global constitution for business and corporations.

But there won't be any fancy signing ceremonies this month. And there won't be any expensive cocktail parties to celebrate the birth of the MAI.

Thanks to people like you, the MAI has suffered a setback. It has been put on hold -- at least for the next year.

This is clearly a victory -- at least a short term one. So, congratulations! You've forced some of the world's most powerful people to revise their corporate agenda.

Over the past several months, literally tens of thousands of people in Canada and across the world have been saying NO to the MAI. We have been raising our voices and saying that MAI is not good for working people, it's not good for communities and it's not good for families.

Some people might ask why we have been so vocal in our opposition. They might ask why we're making such a fuss over a trade agreement.

Well, I can't speak for all those who oppose the deal. But I can tell you why the labour movement opposes the MAI.

We have come to the conclusion that the MAI is a threat to Canadians -- both individually and collectively.

We beleive that the MAI is a threat to public services. We beleive it's a threat to jobs -- especially jobs in the public sector. We beleive it's a threat to basic workers rights. And we beleive it's a threat to democracy.

To illustrate just how dangerous this deal is, let's consider just a few concrete examples of what the MAI would mean for Canadians.

The MAI would make it impossible for governments to introduce new social programs, like public child care or pharmacare.

It would stop governments from restricting foreign ownership of our power and water utilities.

It would make it impossible for progressive governments to regain public control of privatized services.

It would also open the door for private companies to move into our health care and education systems.

On top of all these things, the MAI would give corporations the right to sue governments for the loss of profits and the loss of potential profits whenever a government passed a law that impacted on business.

That means governments would have to think twice about passing laws -- even if those laws are in the public interest.

So, for example, if the MAI was in place right now, the B.C. government probably wouldn't have been able to introduce it's anti-smoking law -- because they would have been sued by the tobacco companies.

If the MAI was in place right now, federal and provincial governments probably would have to stop negotiating native land claims -- because they could be sued by the big forestry or petroleum companies.

And if the MAI was in place right now, the New Democrats in B.C. would not have been able to introduce their Jobs and Timber Accord.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Accord, it basically says that companies who want to use B.C.'s forest resources have to agree to a number of performance requirements.

For example, if they want to cut the province's trees they have to agree to hire a certain number of people and invest a certain amount of money in the local economy.

The accord basically says that companies can't just take B.C.'s resources and run.

If this sounds like a good law to you, that's because it is.

But under the MAI, we wouldn't have a Jobs and Timber Accord. We wouldn't be allowed to demand anything from companies, even if they are making profits by exploiting public resources.

That's what the MAI is really about. It's an assault on the ability of democratically elected governments to make decisions in the public interest. What it does is place the rights of corporations ahead of the right of citizens.

In this way, the MAI would change the traditional role of government. The government's role would change from providing services and promoting and protecting the public good to opening doors for business and investors.

Everything would be reduced to numbers on a corporate balance sheet.

This might be the kind of world that a handful of the world's wealthiest bankers and CEOs dream about. But it's not the kind of world that the majority of working Canadians want to live in.

Of course, sometimes it looks like the deck is stacked against us. But despite the fact that the MAI still has the backing of some of the world's most influential politicians and business people, I'm still confident that we can beat it.

I'm confident because we've already seen what can happen when people rally together to fight for what they believe in.

Twelve months ago, who would have believed that the MAI would be delayed? Who would have believed that regular people -- working people -- could derail the MAI train?

Well that's just what has happened.

And if we keep up the pressure -- if we keep badgering our leaders and putting pressure on people in the business community -- I'm sure we can continue to undermine the corporate agenda.

I won't be easy -- and I know we have a lot of hard work ahead. But I am convinced that protests like this one will help make our leaders see the MAI for what it really is -- a bad idea that deserves to be defeated.

Thank you for showing up today. Solidarity! And Good Luck in the struggle.