International Trade committee  It is definitely a trend, and as Martin said, we're hearing about it a lot more. When the stakes are so high, it's difficult to have it curbed voluntarily by saying to people, “You shouldn't do this; it's not a good idea, because in the long run it's going to be negative.” That's

International Trade committee  Yes, it's not legally enforceable, but it does provide an overarching principle, which would be a very valid thing to refer to when you are looking at what you're going to decide in a particular situation.

International Trade committee  The state-to-state option is one that is not really satisfactory to business. Too many different political variables enter into state-to-state resolution. It may be that my particular claim is not worth the state's jeopardizing its other relationships with the state I'm going to

International Trade committee  Thanks. First of all, I'll comment on your first question. One of the things that I think is perceived is that arbitrators are slanted toward business and that they're going to always see it from a business point of view. I think the reality is that the results are really half a

International Trade committee  I agree with you entirely. I'm just saying that's the history of it. There is still a perception that a Canadian court would be perhaps more...I won't say “biased”, but they would want to take into consideration the public policy of Canada to an extent that might not be acceptab

International Trade committee  Yes. I agree. It's pretty vague. What I've read is that it's going to be like the WTO system, which has an internal appellate body. The appellate body is made up of senior jurists, and many of them are Supreme Court judges from around the world. How will it work? I guess they'

International Trade committee  First of all, I just wanted to mention to you that there is a code of conduct for arbitrators and mediators. It's set out in the papers that go along with Bill C-30. I have it here. It's annex 29-B. You can look at that. That code of conduct is very similar to other codes of cond

International Trade committee  Okay. The second one is the possibility of an appellate tribunal, which is going to allow for a review on law rather than just on procedural defects. The third is the preamble, which I think is maybe the most critical. It recites that investors are going to be protected and b

International Trade committee  Thank you very much. I should mention that I'm an Ontario lawyer originally, but now I'm an independent arbitrator working out of Hong Kong, Toronto, and Paris. I lived in the European Union, in Paris, for about 12 years. I endorse the comments of both Pierre Marc and Jason tha