Hundreds of workers in Montreal demonstrate for better NAFTA deal

Hundreds of workers took to the streets in downtown Montreal on Tuesday afternoon.

The workers — mostly in the manufacturing sector — are calling for the North American Free Trade Agreement to be improved so it better protects jobs in Canada.

“We need to negotiate a better deal that is going to help the jobs here, that’s going to protect the jobs here,” Marc Rousseau, a Bell Canada employee, told Global News.

The sixth round of talks to renegotiate the deal between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, are underway at the Bonaventure Hotel.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been calling for NAFTA to be scrapped or at very least re-written. His rhetoric is aimed at putting American interests first — no matter what the cost.

The U.S. president’s tough talk is forcing representatives from the three North American countries to try to hammer out a new agreement, and workers view this as an opportunity.

“It is good news that we have a chance to renegotiate NAFTA,” Hughes Perreault, president of the Political Action Committee for Unifor, told Global News.

The workers rallying are part of Unifor — the largest union representing the private sector in Canada.

They say NAFTA has been a disaster for the Canadian manufacturing industry, claiming jobs and money have left the country.

Unifor president Jerry Dias insists that a renewed NAFTA needs to protect jobs.

Dias said he disagrees with almost everything Trump says. “But one thing he was right on is that the trade deals have been poor for American workers, bad for Canadian workers, and frankly, bad for Mexican workers.”

Cabinet ministers from the three countries are expected to arrive in Montreal next week to help finalize a new NAFTA — if consensus can be reached.