I share your concerns about investor‑state dispute settlement mechanisms. These mechanisms tend to limit the ability of governments to take measures to protect local communities when foreign investment is involved. In particular, we saw in the old NAFTA that mechanisms to protect workers or the environment always depended on generating a trade advantage.
Environmental protection becomes dependent on trade advantages between states, and that's a real issue. I think that this makes it difficult to establish investor‑state dispute settlement mechanisms that avoid undermining the protection of the rights of workers, women and indigenous people.
On the subject of mining, I read in the Ecuadorian papers today that the Shuar Arutam people filed a complaint in British Columbia against the Warintza copper mining project in the Morona‑Santiago province. They claim that the company misinformed its shareholders by saying that the indigenous communities were in agreement when this wasn't the case.
If we were to protect investments in the mining sector, particularly at this time, we would be forced to defend companies that are giving us a bad name on the international stage. So I think that we need to really think about asking ourselves, as Canadians, what we have—