Howard Mann is an Associate and Senior International Law Advisor to International Institute for Sustainable Development. On December 5, 2013, Mann presented to a parliamentary trade committee on the risks to public policy from investor-state lawsuits in the proposed Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
Reading from a newly leaked CETA investment chapter, Mann called it the “most investor-friendly set of corporate rights” the Canadian government has ever put into an international treaty, and said CETA’s Most Favoured Nation clause, and expansive Fair and Equitable Treatment definition, will undo previous work by the Canadian government to limit the opportunities for investors to seek damages for public policies and public interest regulation that inadvertently affects corporate profits.
The example of Lone Pine Resources’ NAFTA investment dispute against Quebec’s fracking partial moratorium came up several times at committee. Nothing in CETA will make such cases any less likely.
Listen to Mann’s presentation here.
