Local is as local does

Free Trade ... What is this FREE trade.  What's so Free about it?  I remember when NAFTA was passed (200 against, 234 for) in November 1993, taking effect January 1, 1994.  I thought it was  a great idea.  I was barely a teen.  Perhaps I wasn't prepared for what this world was becoming, perhaps I couldn't fathom that change could be so rapid ... and so destructive at the same time.  I really didn't think it was a big deal - "Free Trade is going to be great!" - I must have been stuck on the "FREE".  By January 2016 Walmart will have opened its 396th Canadian store.  Mom and Pop shops around the country, controlled and managed by people in our communities have closed their doors forever.  Family run grocery, hardware, department, and electronic stores are no more..  Control now lies with the corporations, for the most part, the American corporations..  Sure there are still locally owned stores - of course there are.  But they cannot compete with the big box stores on price can they?  And we're on our way to signing the TPP.. Lets use our dollars to support local.  Keep trade in our communities, keep control in our communities, keep it Canadian.  We've still got something special here.