ACTION ALERT: Trade committee must agree to hearings on AbitibiBowater sellout

September 13, 2010

On Tuesday, August 24, the Harper government made a shocking announcement: it would be paying pulp and paper company AbitibiBowater $130 million to withdraw its $500-million NAFTA lawsuit against the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Canadian public is essentially paying a multinational company to pick up and leave the province – and without cleaning up its environmental mess to boot!

THE NAFTA CHALLENGE
AbitibiBowater, a Canadian company incorporated in Delaware, filed its dubious NAFTA investor-state challenge earlier this year in response to provincial legislation passed by the NL government in December authorizing the expropriation timber, water and hydro-electric rights and assets. These were granted to Abitibi a century ago on condition the company use them in its production process. No production, no jobs, no water and timber rights.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
The Harper government’s premature settlement – the largest in Canada’s history of investor-state disputes under NAFTA – has left a number of questions that demand answers. For example:

• Was the company compensated for water and timber rights that under the Constitution it is not legally entitled to? The Canadian Constitution does not protect private property as in the United States. But the Harper government, in paying AbitibiBowater for those rights, may create a de facto private right to water, land and other resources. The consequences of this are staggering.
• How does the NAFTA settlement affect provincial jurisdiction over natural resources? Wasn’t the NL government well within its rights to expropriate resources it owns if AbitibiBowater was not going to be using them anywmore?
• What signals does this settlement send to other companies with resource rights in other provinces and territories who may decide to pack up and leave? Is there nothing we can do to reclaim those assets that are rightfully public?

MOTION FOR PUBLIC HEARINGS
On September 10, the NDP tabled a motion to have the parliamentary trade committee study the AbitibiBowater settlement when it returns from summer break at the end of this month. The motion reads:

That the Standing Committee on International Trade undertake a study on: the $130 million paid by the federal government to AbitibiBowater as a settlement of its claim under NAFTA’s investor state provisions (Chapter 11), the impact of this settlement on future democratic decisions taken in the public interest by Canadian governments at all levels and that the Committee report its findings to the House.

We need to encourage MPs of all parties on the trade committee to support this motion!

MORE INFORMATION
Media Release - August 27: Blame NAFTA, not Williams, for costly AbitibiBowater settlement
Campaign blog: The AbitibiBowater NAFTA 'win' and water rights
Media Release - August 25: Did AbitibiBowater settlement create private water rights? Public needs answers
Media Release - February 26, 2010: Abitibi's $500-million lawsuit an outrage
Campaign blog: Abitibi files $500-million claim under NAFTA

TAKE ACTION
Use the following form to write to members of the trade committee encouraging them to vote in favour of the NDP motion. The constitutional, environmental and democratic consequences of letting the dubious AbitibiBowater sellout stand are potentially enormous.

SAMPLE LETTER

Subject
Recipients	Bcc: All MPs
Compose your letter in the box below.
Dear member of Parliament, I was shocked by the recent announcement that the federal government would be settling with AbitibiBowater in its NAFTA dispute with the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. The company is going to get $130 million in public funds when they are the ones shutting factories, cutting jobs and already taking away from the Canadian economy. There is something very wrong about this. That’s why I’m writing to encourage you to support a motion by the NDP that would have the trade committee undertake a study of the AbitibiBowater settlement and its impact on democratic decisions made in the public interest. There are too many important constitutional and legal questions we need to answer before letting this NAFTA settlement – the largest in Canadian history – fade out of memory. For example: - Are we compensating AbitibiBowater here for water and timber rights? That’s impossible because companies cannot own those rights under Canadian law. They belong to the provinces and territories. They belong to the public. - If we’re compensating the company for water rights, doesn’t this establish a de facto private right to water in Canada? Would tar sands companies or others using water for resource extraction also now have a right to use it -- perhaps even if a future environmental policy restricted the use of that water? - How does this settlement affect the federal-provincial balance of power? Are there broader constitutional issues that need to be carefully thought through? More importantly, is it time to give up on an investment regime that allows companies to bypass the courts and sue democratically elected governments directly for often overly generous definitions of expropriation? I think it is, but trade committee should have the chance to discuss it in detail when it returns from the summer break. I sincerely hope you will support a committee hearing into the AbitibiBowater settlement. I look forward to your response. Sincerely,
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