around the world by means of permanent, irreversible trade deals which do an end run around elections.
The exemptions are systems where education (or health care - the same issues and rules apply there) has been completely free since before December 1994 or 1998. (this is due to the standstill/ratchet and scope definition in GATS Article I:3 - as well as GATS *dates* (according to Ms. Lori Wallach's reading of the use of standstill dates in TiSA this would be likely 1995 for non financial and 1998 for financial services) being borrowed in TiSA.
So, in the case of health care, Canada's Medicare may be able to escape privatization if it manages to keep money completely out of the picture which may subject it to attack under the new trade deals. (See the http://policyalternatives.ca web site under Trade project, for numerous explorations of this and related questions.)
Its less likely dates in 1998 would apply in TPP -its more likely the date of WTO accession (late 1994) would likely be the "standstill" rollback, etc. date (date subsequent nonconforming regulations would be rolled back to.)
The first US-style trade deal to start the commoditization process was our 1995 GATS or General Agreement on Trade in Services.
You can read more about Article I:3's definition of the scope of what services are exempted here in
http://www.iatp.org/files/GATS_and_Public_Service_Systems.htm
This statement by the 850 member European University Association identifies the deals as attacks on the continued existence of public higher education.
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