Evidence of meeting #37 for International Trade in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was question.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
No.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
And yet you were there a lot.
Okay.
If the ISDS mechanism proposed in the TPP is made available to foreign investors, should there be an obligation to exhaust all domestic remedies and seek relief from the domestic courts before referring the dispute to ISDS?
October 6th, 2016 / 12:20 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Generally, Canadian foreign investors abroad do not support this idea for the ISDS mechanism, because such mechanisms are often used to enforce the obligations contained in the international agreement. However, these obligations are not always imposed the same way in all jurisdictions. It must be recalled that the reason this mechanism exists is to give Canadian foreign investors, and foreign investors in Canada, the assurance that they know the basic rules.
Investors can always commence proceedings in a domestic court, here or elsewhere, when domestic law appears to have been violated. However, what's involved here is obtaining compliance with rules of an agreement that will not necessarily be enforced, or that will not be enforced the same way in each jurisdiction. Everything depends on the country. Therefore, if you require investors to exhaust all domestic legal remedies before referring the dispute to ISDS, there's a risk of losing a lot of time in court for a question that's not at the root of the problem.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Both things can be done if a domestic law is violated. It's always possible.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking
Thank you, Madam Lapointe. When you look at the time sheet here many of you went over, but they were good questions. I felt it was very good that we let you finish the answers so that we all got a concept of it. That ends our rounds.
Ms. Hillman, thank you. If you and your counterparts have anything else you want to add, we have a few minutes. Is there anything you're thinking or that you think we might need to know. This submission is concise, but is there anything you guys want to add?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Trade Agreements and Negotiations, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Maybe I'll just say that in your opening remarks you had said that the summary of what we are hearing is in line with the summary of what you are hearing. I'm gratified to hear that because we have spent a lot of time as officials in the past months meeting with hundreds and hundreds of Canadians of all different kinds across the country, as well.
There's the work you've been doing and there's the work that Mr. Lametti's been doing, and the minister and other ministers, and us, as well. We speak to some of the same people, but we also speak to different people. It's reassuring in a certain way that we're all hearing similar kinds of concerns because then I think we can formulate concerns and supports, and we can get a fairly clear picture of what the tenor is out there. We continue to have conversations.
Another thing I would say is that we are always available to answer any more questions that anyone has around the TPP, or the next steps, or the content. We have well over 1,000 letters that we got on very technical questions, such as what the impact is of this tariff or what this rule means. We answer all of those technical questions, and they keep coming in. I would like to say to you and for the record that we are always here to continue answering any questions that people have.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking
We appreciate that, and I think you folks coming in has been very timely for us as we go through this process. We really commend the negotiators. When they're negotiating, it is a hard job to really think about what we can do for all Canadians. It must be very difficult and challenging, but it is what it is.
Thank you again for coming.
We're going to suspend for a few minutes, and then we're going to go in camera with future business.
[Proceedings continue in camera]