On real consultations

Others have noted that the TILMA had officially taken effect in Alberta and B.C. But it's still a wide open question as to how much further the anti-government pact will spread - and an upcoming set of consultations in Saskatchewan may lead to a significant turning point one way or the other:

The NDP government plans to hold public consultations on the controversial Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) between Alberta and British Columbia, Government Relations Minister Harry Van Mulligen said this week.

Van Mulligen hopes the provincial cabinet will make a decision on whether Saskatchewan should join TILMA in about three months, he said...

Van Mulligen said Thursday the government had completed an "exhaustive internal examination" of the deal.

That includes an economic impact study done by the Conference Board of Canada as well as a review of the effects it will have on the government and public policy.

"We now want to set the stage for a public dialogue on TILMA and, generally, internal trade. But we have not yet concluded the structure for that dialogue.

I expect this will be something that will be sorted out in the next week or so," he said.

Possible actions include public hearings and invitations for submissions.

It's somewhat disappointing for the provincial government to be backtracking from Calvert's previous concern about the TILMA. But the question now is whether Saskatchewan's public will be able to mount a strong enough case against the TILMA to outweigh the fact-free rantings in favour of the agreement.

And lest we forget, there have been loads of those. Here's a quick review of the most-often-heard spin so far:

- "The TILMA requires harmonization to the higher standard, so nobody's regulations will be weakened." (It doesn't. In fact, it encourages zero regulation across the board in the long term, and doesn't say how current regulations should be reconciled in the meantime.)

- It'll bring about untold billions in benefits. (If one isn't too concerned with actually evaluating its effects plausibly.)

- "If we don't like what it says, we can just stack arbitration panels to pretend it says something else". (Seriously.)

- "The TILMA will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% while creating 14,000 new jobs. The TILMA supports our troops. The TILMA is love." (We haven't heard it yet, but can it be far behind?)

If there's a bright side to the sheer absurdity of the arguments made in favour of the TILMA so far, it's that they should be easily knocked down by the municipalities, unions, and other citizens who want Saskatchewan to maintain its ability to act in the public interest. And with any luck - and plenty of effort to try to counterbalance the TILMA's place in the province's right-wing noise machine - that'll be the end result three months from now.

Update: How silly of me to forget the claim that Canada's future well-being will be defined by the colour of margarine in Quebec. But Stephen Taylor is sure to bring it up as part of Macleans' predictable pro-TILMA love-in. Can somebody please wake up Maude Barlow?

(Edit: fixed wording.)