Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's question, but the issue we are looking at here is that we believe chapter 11 has failed some of the basic tests of allowing for a fair and open study of whether or not a particular company has been aggrieved.
As for this new dispute mechanism, it looks to us as though we are being asked to go from one really ugly dance partner to an uglier dance partner. We feel the situation could be improved.
We have to go with some fundamental principles. Again, there has to be open access for all interested parties. There has to be the open and full disclosure of all evidence being brought forward. There has to be the clear transparency of judges. Simply having a dispute panel working behind the scenes whereby people actually get to suggest their own arbitrators is not sufficient, especially when we have the public interest at stake, and, in this case, clean groundwater and $350 million of Canadian taxpayers' money that is on the hook.
Right now I do not feel any more confident about going under the proposal that is under Bill C-53 than I do going under chapter 11 of NAFTA. They are both flawed attempts to override the ability of a sovereign state to come forward in a House like this with clear legislation to protect the best interests of its citizens.