Voltaire once said about the Holy Roman Empire that it was "neither holy, Roman, nor an empire." In similar fashion, it can be argued that the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is neither free, about trade, nor a popularly supported agreement. "Merrett forces the rhetoric surrounding free trade into a confrontation with the facts: rising unemployment, falling wages, and the dismantling of Canada's social programs."--"Florida State University".