Vancouver, BC, November 13, 2012 – Canadians submitted nearly 20,000 unique public comments opposing the Canada-China FIPA to the Trade Agreement and NAFTA Secretariat in response to the Final Environmental Assessment of the Canada-China FIPA through Leadnow.ca and SumOfUs.org.
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada completed a Final Environmental Assessment of the FIPA negotiations to examine possible positive and negative environmental impacts in Canada of FIPA. The assessment controversially concluded that there would be no environmental impacts on the assumption that there was no direct causative relationship between the treaty and Chinese investment in Canada. Interested parties and members of the public were invited to submit comments on this Final Environmental Assessment by Sunday, November 11, 2012.
“China’s companies are looking to spend hundreds of billions buying foreign resource corporations, and the Canada-China FIPA would open Canadian governments to lawsuits from China’s corporations if those corporations believe a government decision will limit their profits,” said Jamie Biggar, Executive Director of Leadnow.ca. “This agreement could lock Canada in for 31 years, exposing our country to serious risk that unaccountable arbitrators will punish Canadian decisions to protect our environment and stop dangerous projects.”
Many commenters argued that the existing Environmental Assessment was flawed because it did not allow for sufficient assessment and public comment based on the treaty text, and did not provide adequate information on underlying investment flows to which the treaty will apply or on the dozens of investor claims and arbitration awards under comparable treaties where health or environmental measures have been challenged by investors or subject to compensation orders by arbitrators.
“Canadians are deeply concerned that this secretive and extreme investor agreement will undermine our democratic control, and hand power to unaccountable corporations,” said Emma Pullman, Canadian Campaigner for SumOfUs.org. “These Canadians expect a serious response to their comments, and an entirely new Environmental Assessment process that will provide a more thorough analysis.”
The Trade Agreements and NAFTA secretariat call for public comments on the Final Environmental Assessment can be found here: http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/china-chine/finalEA-pub-EEfinale.aspx and the original petition to stop the Canada-China FIPA and CNOOC-Nexen takeover, with almost 80,000 signatures, can be found here: http://www.leadnow.ca/stop-fipa
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Media Contacts
Jamie Biggar – Executive Director, Leadnow.ca – jamie@leadnow.ca, 778-847-8205
Emma Pullman – Canadian Campaigner, SumOfUs.org – emma@sumofus.org, 778-887-6776
Leadnow.ca is an independent advocacy organization that brings generations of Canadians together to achieve progress through democracy. Leadnow.ca’s campaigning community is powered by 220,000 Canadians.
SumOfUs.org is a global movement of consumers, investors, and workers all around the world, standing together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable and just path or our global economy.