Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening in adjournment proceedings to follow up on a question I initially asked on November 30, 2012. That question related to the Canada-China investment treaty, but was much more specifically directed to the concerns that were growing not just in Canada, but around the world about the process of arbitration resolution to disputes that existed between so-called investors or transnational corporations and states, meaning governments around the world. Investor state agreements have proliferated since the first one, which was part of NAFTA, chapter 11.
What I tried to shine a light on in my question was unfortunately missed in the response that came from the hon. President of the Treasury Board. What I was trying to talk about was the problem of global ambulance chasers, an elite within global law firms that represent corporations in suits against nations and drum up the business. They go to countries and say that they think they can sue over a new environmental law that country X just brought in and they can help make that happen. Even if the country where it is based does not have investment business in the country where they could sue, they tell it open an office over there and then it can sue.
This was all brought to light as I referred in my question in a report called “Profiting from Injustice. How law firms, arbitrators and financiers are fuelling an investment arbitration boom”. This is a very important aspect of the pending Canada-China investment treaty. The cabinet of this country has the authority, without a vote in the House of Commons, to approve a treaty that would bind Canada for 31 years. Under the terms of that treaty, should a state-owned enterprise of the People's Republic of China find one of our laws to be impinging on its expectation of profit, it can go to arbitrators. This is not a court, not a lawsuit in the typical sense. This is appealing to an arbitration in which three powerful lawyers from this elite group of global ambulance chasers will hear both sides and make a determination for which there is no appeal.
In the course of my question on November 30, I pointed out that this report from Europe blew a hole through the idea that arbitration was impartial and unbiased. In fact, these lawyers, who are working at $1,000 an hour, are part of the same law firms that encourage governments to enter into these treaties and then profit from the arbitrations.
Just to give a sense of this, 15 arbitrators from Europe, Canada and the U.S. have settled 55% of the cases. One of these arbitrators, Juan Fernández-Armesto, an arbitrator from Spain, said:
When I wake up at night and think about arbitration, it never ceases to amaze me that sovereign states have agreed to investment arbitration at all...Three private individuals are entrusted with the power to review, without any restriction or appeal procedure, all actions of the government, all decisions of the courts, and all laws and regulations emanating from parliament.
In other words, this process of arbitration to which we will be binding ourselves in the Canada-China investment treaty puts us at the whim of three elite lawyers who are part of a club that is generating millions from legal fees. Countries like the Philippines have had to spend tens of millions of dollars to defend themselves from lawsuits from cigarette companies. We must stop our blind assurances that investment treaties hold no threats for us and really look at whether arbitrations are impartial.