"As Is" in the FTAA "Abuses" of NAFTA not to be repeated

OTTAWA, ONTARIO - Canada is on the verge of rejecting the right of corporations to sue governments in the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), according to an official with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT).

The official made the comments in an article published today in Le Devoir. The official's remarks were in response to a letter that the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers sent earlier this week demanding that Minister Pettigrew state unequivocally his position on investor-state provisions in the FTAA. The official is quoted as saying that the "abuses" of NAFTA must not occur again and that Canada has learned from past experiences.

"Investor-state provisions are at the heart of NAFTA's investment chapter," said David Robbins, Trade Campaigner for the Council of Canadians. "Minister Pettigrew seems to be admitting that Chapter 11 is fundamentally flawed and must not be extended throughout the hemisphere in the FTAA."

"Now he needs to move from talk to action and make the rejection of the right of corporation to sue governments Canada's official, public, negotiating position."

The trade ministers of the Americas (except Cuba) are meeting at the end of this month in Quito, Ecuador, to assess the negotiations of the FTAA. Several countries, including Chile and Brazil, told a Canadian Parliamentary subcommittee that they will not support the inclusion of investor-state provisions in the FTAA. That subcommittee subsequently recommended that NAFTA's investor-state provisions not be expanded in the FTAA.

The subcommittee's report, "Strengthening Canada's Economic Links With The Americas", was released in June of this year in the quiet of summer. Recommendation 21 reads as follows: "That the Government of Canada diligently strive to attain FTAA consensus on the importance of achieving a comprehensive agreement to protect investment within the FTAA. NAFTA type investor-state provisions should be excluded from the FTAA agreement."

The Council of Canadians will be watching closely to see whether Minister Pettigrew will implement this recommendation.

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