Editor, the Times:

I'd like to write an open letter to Prime Minster Stephen Harper to express my unequivocal disagreement with the proposed deal that your government has tabled with China, FIPA, the Canada-China Foreign Investment Protection Agreement.

While I may not agree with a number of political decisions, I rarely, if ever, write to express my views.

The news about how this agreement allows other countries to make legal demands on the management of Canadian lands and business has completely shaken my faith in this country's government to maintain a free life for its citizens. I have read a variety of articles on this subject and they all appear to agree that Canada will lose basic rights over determination of the use of her resources. The reports I have read represent a variety of points of view.

I am a multi-generational Canadian and I am very proud to say so. I have never wanted to be a citizen of any other country because I believed we had the best place in the world to live.

There has been a constant stripping away of the rights of individuals in Canada due to pressures from other countries.

And now, your government is planning to allow other countries to tell us how we may manage our land and resources, to the extent of penalizing Canada.

We have almost everything in our stores made in other countries: it is past time to enable our Canadian people to produce value-added products and trade freely within Canada.

While we do need trade, we do not need it in the form of any agreement like FIPA.

Absolutely unacceptable.

Kim Allen Mission