On the other hand, investment treaties with investment protection provisions commonly found in FIPAs have been widely criticized for creating asymmetry of rights and obligations in favour of foreign investors, resulting in regulatory chill and erosion of policy space for host states, and causing detriment to other stakeholders, such as local communities and domestic investors. [...] Canada should ensure that independent cost-benefit analyses of existing FIPAs and investment chapters are carried out, considering the views and interests of all Canadian stakeholders and Canada’s commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). [...] These analyses must cover environmental (including climate change), social (including gender) and human rights risks of such treaties in Canada and abroad, with impact mitigation measures included in the treaties and enforced with the assistance of periodic reassessment.1 Overall, the narrow focus on investment protection and investment liberalization currently predominant in the FIPAs should be r [...] The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), an independent recourse mechanism for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and MIGA, could serve as a mediation–compliance model to hear complaints from investors (as well as from communities).4 As investors abroad, companies should resort to the domestic legal systems of the states where the investment is taking place; in certain cases, Canada could [...] Importantly, the mandate of Global Affairs Canada is to “improve and maintain market access for Canadian businesses,” and to provide “advice and services to help Canadian businesses succeed abroad,” not to shift all business and regulatory risk to the host state, especially developing country states that need the regulatory space to improve their legal structures and implementation to advance the
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- Winnipeg, MN, CA
