-----  ACTION ALERT  MARCH 2001-----
March 23 is the second anniversary of the passage of the Tobin tax motion in the House of Commons. At that time 164 MPs stood up in the House and voted to stop currency speculation.  I invite you to join Halifax Initiative in sending a message to and MPs and the Finance Minister that we believe they aren’t doing enough to build political support to implement a tax on currency speculation.
Attached is a letter to Finance Minister Paul Martin urging him to take a leadership role in the upcoming UN Financing for Development Conference. The conference will bring over 160 governments together to discuss how more resources can be found or freed up globally to improve the lives and living conditions of hundreds of millions around the world. While the conference itself isn’t until 2002, the preparatory meetings that will shape the agenda and determine the outcome are already underway. Mr. Martin will prepare a list, by April 15, of the themes and issues Canada views as critical.  We suspect the Tobin tax (now often referred to as currency transactions tax or taxes) will NOT be on the list.
Please read, add to or adjust the attached letter as you like, sign it and forward it to:
Paul Martin, MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6     
All letters go postage-free.
You can also cut and paste the letter and send it electronically to:
Martin.P@parl.gc.ca
Please also cc it to:
pm@pm.gc.ca
Manley.J@parl.gc.ca
Minna.M@parl.gc.ca
Blondin-Andrew.E@parl.gc.ca
Stewart.J@parl.gc.ca
Please also cc it to your MP  his/her email is last name.first initial@parl.gc.ca (Paul Martin =Martin.P@parl.gc.ca)
Invite him or her to join the World Parliamentarians Call for a Tobin Tax (copy attached). To date, 23 Canadian Parliamentarians have signed on. Given that 164 voted in favour of the Tobin tax motion in March 1999, Canadian MPs need more than a little encouragement.
Global political support for the Tobin tax is continuing to grow and we need to keep up the momentum here in Canada. As of March 5, 2001,  537 Parliamentarians from 26 countries have signed on to a statement that concludes:  “We, parliamentarians and legislators, ask our respective legislative bodies and governments to seize the question of the Tobin tax so that each government will strive for its implementation at national and international levels and explore other options for reforming global finance. “ This group of Parliamentarians had their first meeting at the World Social Summit in Porto Alegre, Brazil in January - over 200 attended. Belgium recently passed a Parliamentary resolution on the Tobin tax and will place it on the agenda of the European Union  in July 2001 when Belgium assumes the Presidency.  This is a significant victory for our partner organizations and Parliamentary groups in Belgium and throughout Europe who have been working hard to put the tax on the EU agenda.
Please share this letter with friends, colleagues and within your networks. Electronic copies can be provided by forwarding a request to rjround@halifaxinitiative.org
Thanks for participating.
WHO VOTED YES ON MARCH 23, 1999?
Adams Alcock Assad Augustine Bachand (Saint - Jean) Bailey Baker Bakopanos Barnes Beaumier Bélair Bélanger Bellemare Bennett Bertrand Bevilacqua Blaikie Blondin - Andrew Bonin Bonwick Boudria Bradshaw Brown Byrne Caccia Calder Cannis Caplan Carroll Catterall Cauchon Chamberlain Chan Charbonneau Clouthier Coderre Collenette Comuzzi Cullen Desjarlais DeVillers Dhaliwal Dion Discepola Dockrill Dromisky Drouin Dubé (Lévis - et - Chutes - de - la - Chaudière) Duhamel Dumas Earle Easter Eggleton Finestone Finlay Fontana Fry Gagliano Gallaway Godfrey Godin (Acadie - Bathurst) Godin (Châteauguay) Goodale Guarnieri Hardy Harvard Hubbard Ianno Iftody Jackson Jennings Jordan Karetak - Lindell Karygiannis Keddy (South Shore) Keyes Kilger (Stormont - Dundas - Charlottenburgh) Kilgour (Edmonton Southeast) Kraft Sloan Lebel Lee Lefebvre Leung Lincoln MacAulay Mahoney Malhi Maloney Mancini Marchi Marleau Martin (Esquimalt - Juan de Fuca) Martin (LaSalle - Émard) Martin (Winnipeg Centre) Massé Mayfield McCormick McDonough McGuire McKay (Scarborough East) McLellan (Edmonton West) McTeague McWhinney Ménard Meredith Mifflin Minna Mitchell Morrison Murray Myers Nault Normand Nystrom O'Brien (Labrador) O'Brien (London - Fanshawe) O'Reilly Pagtakhan Paradis Parrish Peric Peterson Pettigrew Phinney Pickard (Chatham - Kent Essex) Pillitteri Plamondon Proctor Proud Provenzano Redman Reed Richardson Riis Robillard Robinson Rocheleau Rock Saada Scott (Fredericton) Sekora Serré Solomon St. Denis Steckle Stewart (Brant) Stewart (Northumberland) St - Hilaire St - Julien Stoffer Szabo Telegdi Thibeault Torsney Tremblay (Lac - Saint - Jean) Ur Valeri Vanclief Vautour Wappel Wasylycia - Leis Whelan Wilfert Wood  (164 Parliamentarians)
WHO’S SIGNED THE WORLD PARLIAMENTARIANS CALL FOR A TOBIN TAX?
LIBERALS - André HARVEY/Joe JORDAN/Rick LALIBERTE/Andy SCOTT
NDP - Bill BLAIKIE/Libby DAVIES/Bev DESLARLAIS/Wendy LILL/Patrick MARTIN/Alexa McDONOUGH/Lorne NYSTROM/Svend ROBINSON/Peter STOFFER/Judy WASYLYCIA-LEIS BLOC QUÉBÉCOISE  - Hélène Alarie/Stéphane BERGERON/Paul CRETE/Francine LALONDE/Ghislain LEBIL/Yves ROCHELEAU/Pauline PICARDCaroline ST-HILAIRE/Stéphan TREMBLAY
Hon. Paul Martin, MP
House of Commons
Ottawa ON,
K1A 0A6
March 23, 2001
Dear Minister Martin,
On March 23, 1999, you led your government in passing the Parliamentary motion to “enact a financial transactions tax in concert with the international community”.  Since that time, Canada distinguished itself at the UN World Summit for Social Development in June 2000, by proposing that a study be undertaken by the UN on currency transactions taxes, but more work needs to be done. I am writing to urge you to make currency transactions taxes (Tobin-type taxes) a key issue at the upcoming UN Financing for Development conference.
You have an opportunity to set the agenda for that conference next month. The UN has invited all member governments “to submit to the Coordinating Secretariat, not later than April 15, a concise identification of possible initiatives or themes, which consideration may serve as a means to further focus the substantive preparatory work\.  I believe currency transactions taxes must be on the top of Canada’s list.