Harper government sneaks through Canada-China FIPA despite ongoing court challenge
[ http://canadians.org/media/harper-gover ... -challenge ]
Media Release - September 12, 2014
***NOTE: More on FIPA at:
[ http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=52 ]
The Harper government today announced it has ratified the controversial Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA), despite the fact that a legal challenge from the Hupacasath First Nation is still before the courts. The deal, which China has already ratified, will go into effect on October 1 and lock Canada into the sweeping agreement for at least 31 years.
“This is a truly sad day for Canada,” says Brenda Sayers, representative of Hupacasath First Nation. “Hupacasath First Nation is deeply disappointed that the Federal Government would ratify the Canada-China FIPA while the case is still before the Federal Court of Appeal and the decision is under reserve. This decision is an injustice and an affront to our time honored judicial heritage and shows no respect for the judicial process. The people of Canada should be alarmed that our constitutional rights have been stolen from our hands.”
“A decision from the Court of Appeal was expected any day,” adds Hupacasath Chief Steven Tatoosh. “Now, that democratic right has been squashed. By not allowing due process to take place the federal government has breached it duty to consult First Nations under Section 35 of the Constitution of Canada.”
“This is a terrible development. Once again, the Harper government is flagrantly ignoring the court system, and giving Chinese corporations and state-owned enterprises the right to sue us over our public and environmental protections,” said Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “Canadians should be deeply angry that the Harper government has not listened to them, and has gone ahead with this corporate gift.”
“Today Prime Minister Harper showed his disrespect for the legal process, citizen voices and First Nations rights and title by ratifying this secretive and extreme investor deal before the courts have finished reviewing the case,” said Jamie Biggar, Executive Director of Leadnow.ca. “Tomorrow there will be a new wave of people working to hold this government accountable at the ballot box in 2015.”
The Canada-China FIPA was signed on September 9, 2012 but its ratification in Canada has been delayed by widespread public outcry about the unbalanced deal, which would lock Canada in for 31 years and allow Chinese corporations to directly sue the Canadian government for measures that interfere with its profits. On January 18, 2013 the Hupacasath First Nation of British Columbia initiated a court challenge on the constitutionality of the deal. The initial court ruling was in favour of the government, but the Federal Court of Appeal heard arguments on the Hupacasath appeal on June 10, 2014 and has not yet rendered its decision.
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Media contacts:
Brenda Sayers, Hupacasath First Nation: (250) 731-4147
Jamie Biggar, Leadnow.ca: (778) 847-8205
Scott Harris, Trade Campaigner, Council of Canadians: (780) 233-2528
= = = = = =
1) (FIPA) Canada Ratifies Investment Agreement with China September 12th 2014 + Criitique of FIPA
Canada Ratifies Investment Agreement with China
[ http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=884239 ]
See also critique of the FIPA
2) Canada-China (FIPA) In Depth Council of Canadians
[ http://www.canadians.org/fipa-info ]
3) Leadnow Stop FIPA Petition
[ http://www.leadnow.ca/stop-fipa/ ]
4) Elizabeth May and the Green Party of Canada warn about the FIPA
Red Carpet for China
[ http://www.greenparty.ca/stop-the-sellout ]
5) Hupacasath Releases “Canada -China FIPA 101- What First Nations Need to Know”
[ http://www.greenparty.ca/sites/greenpar ... w_logo.pdf ]
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1) Canada Ratifies Investment Agreement with China
[ http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=884239 ]
"Canadian companies will benefit from stronger protection, more predictable investment environment when investing in China"
September 12, 2014 - Ottawa, Ontario - Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade, today announced that the foreign investment promotion and protection agreement (FIPA) between Canada and China has been ratified and will come into force on October 1, 2014. The agreement was signed in September 2012.
The Canada-China FIPA will help ensure that Canadian companies doing business in China are treated fairly and benefit from a more predictable and transparent business environment. It will give Canadian investors in China the same types of protections that foreign investors have long had in Canada. Specifically, the FIPA sets out clear rules governing investment relations, including dispute resolution and protection against discriminatory and arbitrary practices, creating a secure and predictable environment.
Quick Facts
Canada is a trading nation, with trade generating the equivalent of approximately 60 percent of its GDP and responsible for one in five jobs in Canada.
China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner, with two-way bilateral merchandise trade totalling $73.2 billion in 2013, up 38 percent over the past five years.
Foreign direct investment between Canada and China increased more than seven-fold between 2005 and 2013, to a total of $21.5 billion.
A FIPA is not a free trade agreement.
Quotes
“Investment agreements provide the protection and the confidence Canadian investors need to expand, grow and succeed abroad. We remain committed to opening new markets around the world for Canadian companies, including in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region. This FIPA will create jobs and economic opportunities for Canadians in every region of the country.” - Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade
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CRITIQUE OF THE Canada-China FIPA:
2) Canada-China (FIPA) In Depth - Council of Canadians
[ http://www.canadians.org/fipa-info ]
On September 9, 2012, Canada signed a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) with China. FIPAs are Canada’s name for bilateral investment treaties, which are used by corporations globally to challenge public policies or community decisions that interfere with their profits. Canada’s first FIPA took the form of a single chapter (Chapter 11) in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Because of extreme investment protections in NAFTA, Canada has paid out $160 million to U.S. corporations who challenged public decisions, including environmental policy. Canadian mining companies are using FIPAs with developing countries to claim damages from community opposition to unwanted mega-projects.
If the FIPA with China is ratified, Chinese corporations will be able to challenge local, provincial and federal policies or laws that interfere with their “right” to make a profit from, for example, proposed tarsands or fracking projects, pipelines, or mines. Canadian firms will have the same “right” in China, which will impact human rights and environmental protections there. We believe the FIPA fundamentally undermines democracy. It will give Chinese firms in Canada and Canadian firms in China 31 years of “protection” – from environmental, human rights or resource conservation measures they don’t like while companies and private investors gain the right to sue Canada or China in controversial and unaccountable private tribunals outside the court system.
Tens of thousands of people have sent letters to the government demanding that the investment treaty be torn up, and written hundreds of letters in newspapers across the country. Public opposition to the corporate rights pact is resonating with Members of Parliament who are demanding a public debate the government does not want to have. Opposition to the China FIPA is also spilling over into Canada’s other investment protection treaties with Latin American, African and Asian countries. Now the Hupacasath First Nation of British Columbia has taken the FIPA to court, directly confronting the Harper government’s anti-democratic corporate rights deals.
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3) Leadnow Stop FIPA Petition
[ http://www.leadnow.ca/stop-fipa/ ]
Update: June 2014
Thanks to the hard work of the Hupacasath First Nation, and the incredible support you have provided to them, this trade deal has been delayed for close to two years through an initial court challenge in 2013 and an appeal in May of 2014.
We expect the decision on the appeal will be made in the next few months, and we’ll keep you posted with any news. Together, we’ve held up a flagship piece of Harper’s agenda with deeply disturbing implications for our ability to have democratic control over our resources, our economy and our future. No matter what the court decides, we can still stop this investor deal by cranking up the pressure on Conservative MPs. People across the country are actively organizing against this deal. You can do the same by downloading our organizing kit and getting in touch with our organizers at organize@leadnow.ca
At any moment, Prime Minister Harper could pass the most significant international investors’ deal of a generation.
MORE:
[ http://www.leadnow.ca/stop-fipa/ ]
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Red Carpet for China
[ http://www.greenparty.ca/stop-the-sellout ]
So what is the Canada-China Investment Treaty? Simply put, it is the most significant investor-state agreement signed by Canada since NAFTA. Only this time our “partner” is the communist government in Beijing, an authoritarian regime with an appalling record on human rights –and it isn’t getting better. This deal requires that Chinese government-owned companies be treated exactly the same as Canadian companies operating in Canada. Once in force, it lasts a minimum of 15 years. If a future government wants to get out of it, a one year notice is required – and even once the treaty is cancelled, any existing Chinese operations in Canada are guaranteed another 15 years of the treaty’s benefits.
We at the Green Party of Canada believe there are many flaws in that agreement. And we think Canadians should know about them:
1. Open bar for Chinese state-owned enterprises
The Canada-China Investment Treaty means easier takeovers of Canadian assets, especially in the resource sector. In the context of the possible takeover of Nexen by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), it is crucial that we collectively pause to consider the wisdom of granting Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) such an easy access to our natural resources.
2. The right for China to claim damages over Canadian laws
The Canada-China Investment Treaty allows Chinese companies (including state-owned enterprises) to sue the Government of Canada over decisions that can limit or reduce their expectation of profits. In treaty language, this is called “tantamount to expropriation.” China can claim damages against Canada for decisions at the municipal, provincial, territorial or federal level. Even decisions of our courts can give rise to damages. The damage claims start with six months of diplomatic negotiation. If that fails, damage claims move to arbitration – behind closed doors.
3. Secret hearings
The Canada-China Investment Treaty would allow Chinese investors to sue Canada outside of Canadian courts. Special arbitrators would take the decisions. These arbitrators, unlike judges, do not have secure tenures or set salaries. Their decision cannot be subject to judicial review. And the arbitrations are to be secret. Even the fact they are happening is to be secret.
4. Limit right to be heard
Only the federal government is allowed to take part in the arbitration process. Provincial governments or Canadian companies, even if their interests are affected, do not have the right to voice their concerns during the arbitration process.
5. China’s obsession for secrecy
The Canada-China Investment Agreement makes Chinese lawsuits secret . At any time, we will not know if we are being sued and who will decide the case. We will not know what our government is saying on our behalf. We will not know if Canada has been ordered to change government decisions. This is a complete U-turn for Canada who has always insisted on complete openness in investor-state arbitration, for example when signing the Canada-US-Mexico free trade deal.
6. Restrictions on our use of our own resources
The Canada-China Investment Treaty requires that if, in the future, Canada wants to conserve natural resources (fisheries, water, oil, uranium, forests -- everything is covered), and reduce Chinese access to these resources, we are only allowed to do so to the extent we limit our own use of those natural resources.
What the Greens have done
The day after the Canada-China Investment Treaty was made public on September 26th by the Conservatives, Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May held a press conference to warn Canadians on the dangers of the treaty with China. The following day, Elizabeth wrote to the Speaker of the House of Commons demanding an emergency debate about the deal. The Speaker turned down May’s request, saying it did not meet the tests of an emergency.
We were the first (and for some time the only) party to raise the issue, demanding debate and alerting Canadians to the threat -- reduced sovereignty, reduced democracy, all for more Chinese ownership of Canada's resources.
We now call on Canadian citizens to also demand a democratic process for Canada’s ratification of the Canada-China Investment Treaty while we still have time.