Ronald Labonte

The Global Backstory to the Ebola Outbreak
- Analysis
- February 12, 2015
With Ebola abating in the three most affected countries (Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea) there are now ex post reflections on what went wrong. There is much that did.

We can first ask why these countries were unable to deal …
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Time for an Open Debate on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
- Analysis
- February 18, 2014
On February 22, trade ministers from the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement will meet in Singapore. Reaching a final signed agreement is unlikely, given U.S. Congressional resistance to ‘fast tracking’ President Obama’s authority to sign off on …
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Canada Weakens Its Opposition to U.S. Proposals on Intellectual Property Rights
- Analysis
- December 13, 2013
An update to my November 2013 CIPS Blog post

It appears that Canada may be dropping its objections to many of the US TRIPS+ proposals on intellectual property rights. On the last day of the Singapore TPP meetings (December 10, …
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Canada Must Hold Firm in Opposing US Efforts to Expand Intellectual Property Rights
- Analysis
- November 27, 2013
Our federal government seems hell-bent on signing as many new free trade and investment treaties as possible. We just completed one ‘in principle’ with the European Union (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA); we finalized one with Honduras …
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The Hidden Connection between Obesity, Heart Disease, and Trade