Canada is set to ratify an enormous investment treaty with China in the coming days. Haven’t heard of it? You’re not alone. It may be the biggest agreement since NAFTA, but it’s also a deal that was largely kept quiet until recently. Critics say that’s a problem, and there are many more with the agreement itself. Proponents argue this is a big win for Canadian businesses, and the country as a whole. We hear both sides of the debate.
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Cory’s Chart Corner
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Read this:
http://wcel.org/resources/environmental-law-alert/canada-china-investment-treaty-fipa-attack-aboriginal-rights
Prior consultation with aboriginal people is a necessary component in the international agreements that govern the rights of indigenous peoples.
Please consult these sites:
1)http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/281/p/dia/action/public/%3Faction_KEY=11824
2) http://wcel.org/resources/environmental-law-alert/canada-china-investment-treaty-fipa-attack-aboriginal-rights
And further consider that, under this trade agreement, if the people of BC refuse further construction of a tar sands pipeline, we could be liable, under this agreement, for the costs of such legislation without it ever being decided by a Canadian or international court. Instead it would be decided and costs assigned by a three-person trade tribunal: one from Canada, one from China and one from the World Trade Organization. This is a violation of the protection of ordinary Canadian citizens and a violation of Aboriginal rights as outlined in 2) above. International agreements require that indigenous people must have PRIOR consent to agreements that affect their territories.
Fred Bass
Big win? What idiocy! Welcome to the Colony of Canada.
Under FIPA, China’s companies can sue Canadian governments, federal, provincial or municipal, in secret tribunals outside the Canadian court system if those governments do anything that would limit the companies’ profits in Canada.
The FIPA would tie our hands for 31 years, making it possible for China’s companies to challenge Canadian laws that create jobs, protect our environment and build healthy communities with billion-dollar lawsuits that would cost taxpayers dearly.
Right now Belgium is facing a $3 billion suit from one of China’s companies because of a similar foreign investor agreement.
It’s short terms gains for long-term pain, and Canadians and Chinese alike have a right to have a say in the decisions that will shape our lives. Harper is trying to slide this though without proper scrutiny. He has zero tolerance for democracy. It so gets in the way of his “brilliant” gambits.
This is a disaster for Canada, reducing us to the same status as the Congo under Leopold.