NAFTA claims against Canada surge

The North American Free Trade Agreement has had its critics from the get-go (myself included). Here's an example of why:

Foreign investors are increasingly targeting Canada for alleged breaches of the North American free-trade pact and it's costing the federal government millions of dollars in damages and legal fees, according to a new study.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found as of October, 43% of 66 claims under NAFTA's investment chapter were made by foreign investors against Canada.

"The trend over the last five years is alarming. More than half the claims (54%) against Canada since NAFTA came into force over 15 years ago were initiated during this time period," said CCPA senior researcher Scott Sinclair said.

"This trend reflects a growing awareness among foreign investors and corporate trade lawyers of NAFTA investment rights, and an increasing willingness to invoke them to contest public policy measures," he said.

From the Brantford Expositor (my bold). And what kind of public policy measures might those be? Here are a few examples:

April 14, 1997 Challenged Canadian ban on import and inter-provincial trade of gasoline additive MMT.

July 22, 1998 Challenged temporary Canadian ban (Nov. 1995 -Feb. 1997) on export of toxic PCB wastes.

Dec. 24, 1998 Challenged lumber export quota system.

Apr. 23, 2009 Newfoundland provincial government enacted legislation to return water use and timber rights to the crown.

Most of us have heard of this sort of thing before, but it's still disturbing, especially given the escalation in the number of claims of late.

Exemption from "Buy American" policies is a sham -- CCPA

Frances Russell explains:

Taxpayers' dollars should be used to create and support taxpayers' jobs, not export them to another country.

At least that's what U.S. governments believe. But Canada's federal and provincial governments are so frantic to get exemptions from Buy American laws governing the massive U.S. economic stimulus package that they are preparing to open up $21 billion in provincial procurement and perhaps as much as $84 billion in municipal procurement -- and who knows how many jobs -- to U.S. suppliers in return for a virtually meaningless trade concession.

So says the author of a new research paper from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Political economist and CCPA senior researcher Scott Sinclair says the U.S. has cleverly steered the bilateral talks away from U.S. Buy American laws towards what President Barack Obama has called a "multilateral solution." Obama says Canada can get in on the U.S. stimulus gravy train by following its example and signing up provinces and local governments to the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Government Procurement (AGP.)

But U.S. federal, state and municipal governments have exempted so many Buy American policies from AGP commitments, they're almost a dead letter. Federal spending on highways, mass transit, municipal infrastructure and utility spending already are exempt. Thirteen states have no AGP commitments. Many more exclude steel, motor vehicles, coal and printing. All U.S. municipal procurement is protected. Finally, the U.S. federal government itself has carved out the bulk of its federal stimulus spending, leaving it free to apply its buy-local preferences.

From the Winnipeg Free Press. I really can't fault the Yanks for wanting stimulus funds to be spent at home where possible (much as I might find fault with them for other things); indeed I think we should be doing the same thing.

Canada's economy long way from recovery: report

We're hearing a lot these days about how the recession is "over", and from a technical standpoint this may be true, but a recent report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives suggests that it may take some time before we see the benefits of any recovery:

Canada's economy is a long way from recovery, and more public investment will be key to getting there, says a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

"I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel … and our high dollar is making it worse," said Jim Stanford, co-author of the report and an economist with the Canadian Auto Workers.

The private sector is still shrinking, most new jobs are being created in the public sector and the economy may require billions more in government stimulus, according to the report released Thursday in Ottawa.

"So far we've seen continued decline in exports, continued decline in business capital spending," Stanford said. "Across the private sector as a whole, there's no source of new growth.

From the CBC. How this additional stimulus money should be spent is a good question. I'd suggest putting a lot more into solar and wind power, for starters, and perhaps fixing all the bloody potholes in Winnipeg's streets couldn't hurt. Of course, there are other ways to spend stimulus money, which are very beneficial to some people:

The Conservative government's economic stimulus spending spree that is pouring billions of tax dollars into road construction projects may turn out to be an offer the Mafia couldn't refuse.

Even as Stephen Harper and his ministers are racing around the country showering public funds on just about every project with a cement mixer, Quebec is engulfed in a growing scandal over Mafia control of infrastructure projects.

In some excellent investigative reporting by the CBC, a credible government insider-turned-whistleblower claims Montreal's Italian Mafia controls 80% of the contracts for road construction in the city, much of which is certain to involve federal stimulus money.

The CBC report included detailed descriptions of bid-rigging of contracts, a practice that dramatically inflates overall project costs borne by taxpayers.

From the London Free Press. This is the sort of thing that gives stimulus programs a bad name.