To the editor:
The Harper government is currently poised to ratify the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, announced in February, signed by the prime minister on Sept. 9, 2012 but kept from the Canadian people for another 17 days.
FIPA was enacted without any public consultation or Parliamentary debate and, once ratified, will bind Canadians to the terms of the agreement for 15 years. Should any future government wish to withdraw from the onerous commitments within, one year written notice will be required, and any existing Chinese investors in Canada will be protected for an additional 15 years.
FIPA is essentially a corporate rights pact that provides foreign corporations access to secret arbitration hearings with the power to challenge and overturn democratically-passed Canadian laws or regulations that are perceived to infringe on their expected profits; laws or regulations that we may deem essential to the protection of our environment, our wildlife, our safety or any other such concerns.
Similar to provisions in NAFTA which have resulted in the Canadian government being forced to pay out millions in settlements to U.S. corporations, the terms of the FIPA agreement will provide arms of the Chinese government with the ability to complain to the federal government about, and claim damages for, laws or regulations made at any level of Canadian jurisprudence that it believes will reduce their expectation of profits.
The secret way in which this agreement has been negotiated, and could be ratified by the Harper government, is deeply corrosive to Canadian democracy, and this government is keeping Canadians in the dark on an agreement that could impact us for generations.
In light of the above, I implore anyone who perceives this as an inherent danger to Canada and her democracy to telephone or email your local MPs immediately with your concerns.
It is imperative that we do everything we can to prevent the influence of foreign state-owned enterprise over our democracy in the interests of ensuring that power over Canadian law remains in Canadian hands.
Louise?Fisher,Thunder Bay
