First of all, thank you for your question.
I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge and thank my friend Professor de Mestral for his generous comments in the course of his excellent presentation. Coming from an authority in the domain, as Armand de Mestral is, it's a great compliment.
Thank you, professor.
Mr. Aboultaif, I don't know where to start. I could give you so many instances of cases in which I've been involved, either as a counsel or as an arbitrator, where Canadian corporations have benefited.
I'll give you one, because it's a case in which I'm presently involved as a member of an international tribunal. This is on a no-name basis, obviously, because, as I said, the case is pending. It's a Canadian mining company from British Columbia that has a subsidiary in Poland. It was awarded some exploration concessions a few years ago by a department of the Government of Poland. Its competitor was a Polish mining company. After the decision was issued, the then president of Poland complained and asked why they favoured a Canadian company rather than a Polish company. He was followed by a number of influential people in Poland, and eventually the mining concession was cancelled.
Canada has a bilateral investment treaty with Poland, and the Canadian company shareholder of the Polish company availed itself of a provision of the treaty and gave a notice of arbitration against Poland. The case was argued in Warsaw a couple of years ago, when we could still travel.
We are now deliberating, my colleagues and I, and whatever the result is going to be.... Don't expect me, of course, to speak about the merits of the case. This is a case where the subsidiary of a Canadian company benefited from the existence of a bilateral investment treaty with an arbitration clause and instituted proceedings before an international tribunal. I was appointed by the Canadian company. The chairperson of the tribunal is Swiss, and the arbitrator appointed by Poland is a very eminent German jurist.
That's a short answer, Mr. Aboultaif, to your very important question.