Mr. Speaker, it is my honour to rise this evening in adjournment proceedings to pursue a question I asked in question period almost a month ago, on November 2. It relates to the comprehensive economic trade agreement between Europe and Canada and specifically to the thorniest part of that agreement, which has drawn attention around the world, and particularly objections at the last minute from the Walloons, and spreading objections throughout the European Union. It is the investor-state provision.
In my question in question period, I drew a link with a proposal for an open pit mine, within the legal boundaries of the community of Kamloops, called the Ajax mine. I picked that as a particular example because it is very controversial, being within the town limits and right near the school. This is a community that likes mining and has other mines, but it is very concerned about this one.
The reason it ties into CETA is that if CETA did not have investor-state provisions, there would be no particular risk with respect to the fact that the Ajax mine's proponent is a Polish state-owned enterprise. If CETA goes through and is ratified by Poland and Canada, and should the British Columbia government do the right thing and say no to permitting the Ajax mine to go ahead, that company, being Polish, would have rights that a Canadian mining company would not have. It could sue Canada for damages in an arbitration court for a decision made with no trade motivation whatsoever.
Investor-state provisions are poorly understood in Canada, which is particularly ironic, given that we have been at the losing end of more cases than most countries, because the first investor-state agreement was invented as part of NAFTA. It is chapter 11 of NAFTA.
Canada has been brought for investor disputes and tried at arbitrations that are held in secret. Chapter 11 arbitrations are held entirely in secret, such as the dreadful decision that occurred on a split decision of two arbitrators out of three. Both the federal Conservatives and the provincial Nova Scotia Progressive Conservatives refused the most appalling project I have ever seen in my 17 years working at the Sierra Club, the open pit quarry that was proposed for Digby Neck, Nova Scotia, which threatened the survival of the most endangered whale species on the planet. It was a strong decision based on good environmental assessments. To have that challenged by a proponent from the United States, who was claiming $300 million in damages because it was turned down by John Baird, at the federal level, and by the provincial government in Nova Scotia, was truly outrageous.
That is just one example of chapter 11 of NAFTA. Canada has lost many of these cases and has had our laws overturned in Parliament.
The more we look at this, the more we wonder why we do not better understand the threats of allowing investor arbitrators to make these kinds of decisions.
I quote Juan Fernández-Armesto, a Spanish arbitrator, who was quoted in a report called “Profiting from Injustice”, which states:
...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.
I have very little time left. This is what I would like the parliamentary secretary to pursue with me. Let us get investor-state provisions out of CETA. They are better procedurally than the ones under chapter 11 of NAFTA, but they are not acceptable.