Not exactly. What it would allow a Canadian company to do is make a claim that its investment had been expropriated, and it would have to establish that it had suffered a substantial deprivation to the value of its investment. The simple loss of profit would not establish a substantial deprivation. It might be a factor, but it would not establish substantial deprivation. As I mentioned, there's a whole annex to the free trade agreement, annex 812.1, that sets out the factors for tribunals to look at when considering a claim for indirect expropriation. I could imagine that in a context where a privatized system is made public, we would be looking at not necessarily indirect expropriation but perhaps direct expropriation as well, which might be a simpler matter.
On May 5th, 2009. See this statement in context.