International Trade committee  If Canadian investors are going to be using ISDS to bring lawsuits in countries they're wanting to make investments in, is it going to be prejudicial against them? No, I don't so.

International Trade committee  I think it's a system that was designed for them.

International Trade committee  I think that would be a very good first step, if we are determined to keep the ISDS as it stands, and reform it in some way, as opposed to getting rid of it, which, frankly, would be the strong preference for most of the counterparts we deal with in southern countries. If you're

International Trade committee  I think if you look at the cost to small and medium enterprises of using the ISDS, you could take the amount of money paid to the corporate lawyers to fight an ISDS case—we're talking about $3,000 a day as a normal fee for a lawyer involved in that—and that money would easily be

International Trade committee  Yes, thank you. First, I would like to clarify that we are not opposed to trade. I'm not saying that. What we are worried about are the implications of the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism within trade and investment agreements. Trade obviously can be a major contribu

International Trade committee  If you're asking me if there are regulatory chills because of the TPP itself, I think—

International Trade committee  —it's not in play yet, so no, I can't.

International Trade committee  I think in the case of Colombia, they are currently facing the prospect of an ISDS case in terms of the protection of the wetlands in the upland areas of Colombia. You would have to look at whether Colombia is actually going to stick to its environmental legislation that, on the

International Trade committee  Thank you very much for the invitation to speak here today on the issue of the trans-Pacific partnership. My name is David Bruer. I am here today representing three regional working groups of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation. CCIC is Canada's national coaliti