Fisheries committee  I guess my final thought on the first question, if I may, is that our agreements—

Fisheries committee  —only allow for the expropriation.... I want to get to the issue of expropriation, because I think that is perhaps at the heart of what you're asking. Our investment agreements require that if we're going to expropriate an investment, we have to do so for a public purpose, we must do so with due process under domestic law, and we have to accompany that by fair compensation for the value of the investment.

Fisheries committee  I'm sorry. To answer your final question about dispute settlement, yes, if an investor alleges that Canada is not in compliance with international investment obligations, almost all of our treaties allow that investor the right to pursue investor-state dispute settlement. As well, of course, the investor has the right to pursue dispute settlement in domestic courts.

Fisheries committee  Unfortunately, I don't think that's a question I can answer. Perhaps my colleague from Industry Canada can answer that question. My responsibilities are related to international investment treaties. Food security is certainly not one of the issues that I would say are within my responsibilities.

Fisheries committee  Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Chair. From an international treaty perspective, as I mentioned in my opening remarks and in responding to a few of the questions I've answered, we have negotiated some flexibility in our trade agreements that would allow the Government of Canada to take some decisions with respect to offering preferential access to Canadian investors and investments.

Fisheries committee  What I would say is that this issue is not explicitly covered through the reservations and exemptions that we take in our international investment treaties. They allow Canada, as I mentioned, to give preferential treatment to Canadian and to third party investors. In practical terms, the exemptions and reservations mean that our main investment agreements do not force the government to give fishing licences to foreign investors on the same terms that it provides to Canadian investors.

Fisheries committee  From a negotiating and policy perspective related to international investment and agreements, the purpose of my testimony today is to provide an explanation of the nature of the commitments that we've taken in our international investment treaties. From that perspective, I would say that our international investment treaties are meant to provide a safe and predictable framework for people to invest in Canada.

Fisheries committee  As trade negotiators, we are certainly always willing to work with and collaborate with our colleagues across the government, including the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Perhaps I would also add something that I said in my opening remarks. When Canada negotiates investment treaties, we do protect the Government of Canada's right to regulate in the pursuit of legitimate policy objectives.

Fisheries committee  To answer the question specifically, I am not aware of that specific practice, and I would say that I cannot speak to its coverage under our international treaties. I don't believe that it's something we would be negotiating in the context of an international investment treaty.

Fisheries committee  I think the question is probably best answered by colleagues at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. They have a deep expertise on the issues—

Fisheries committee  Well, my understanding is that they have deep expertise on all issues related to Canada's competitiveness in the fisheries and fisheries processing industries. That's my answer, Mr. Chair.

Fisheries committee  To answer that question, I guess what I would say is that the reservations Canada has taken in its trade agreements are related to fishing licences as well as fishing-related activities. The exception specifies that fishing-related activities include—and I'll quote here just to be very clear on what we have negotiated in the context of our international trade agreements—“entry of foreign...vessels to Canada's exclusive economic zone, territorial sea, internal waters or ports, and use of any services therein”.

Fisheries committee  The main international investment treaty that governs our interactions with China is the agreement that we negotiated that is referred to as a “foreign investment and promotion and protection agreement”. In broad terms, this agreement contains more or less the same commitments one would find in most of Canada's international investment treaties.

Fisheries committee  Yes. Just to be clear again, it doesn't contain any market access commitments.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair. Perhaps I could just take a minute to explain in a little more detail what kind of provisions I was referring to. First I would say the most obvious one is that in many of our investment agreements, we explicitly exempt, as I mentioned, licensing of fishing and fishing-related activities from non-discrimination commitments.