Canadian corporations abuse investment treaties, bully governments into environmental backtrack: study
Canadian investors have exploited a controversial mechanism in
international investment treaties to challenge public interest
regulations in 24 different countries, according to a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The report, by trade and investment researcher Hadrian
Mertins-Kirkwood, documents the 55 known cases of Canadian investors
using the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system to sue foreign
governments in international trade tribunals. It finds that the ISDS
process has overwhelmingly been used by Canadian resource companies to
dispute resource management and environmental protection measures in
developing countries.
The study comes out on the heels of a request for investor-state
arbitration, filed at the World Bank on July 30, by Canadian mining firm
Gabriel Resources Ltd. The company is claiming that delays to the
controversial Rosia Montana gold mine in Romania have violated the
government’s investment treaty obligations.
“ISDS is supposed to protect foreign investors from arbitrary
government actions, but in practice it is being used by multinational
corporations to bully democratic governments into backtracking on
actions taken in the public interest,” says Mertins-Kirkwood. “Canadian
companies—particularly Canadian mining companies—are among the worst in
the world when it comes to ISDS.”
