SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT ON
INVESTMENT
SECOND REPORT
Third Session, Thirty-sixth Parliament
June 29, 1999
If you've never heard of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment -- also known as the MAI -- you're not alone. Most people haven't. And if you only recently learned that the British Columbia legislature established a special committee to study how international investment rules could affect your community, that's not surprising either, because the issue hasn't received much attention in the mainstream media.
What is the MAI? What is it designed to do? Why should British Columbians and other citizens care about international investment rules? And what issues do MAI-style rules raise for B.C. and the province's future if they are adopted internationally?
The B.C. Special Committee on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment was established to answer these and many other questions arising out of the proposed MAI.
The committee was formed by a unanimous vote of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia on April 27, 1998, and was given a broad mandate to examine key issues arising out of the proposed MAI. Joan Smallwood, MLA, chairs the committee.
The
MAI, a proposed international agreement on investment, has been under negotiation at the
Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) since 1995.
The proposed agreement was designed to "provide a broad multilateral framework for international investment with high standards for the liberalization of investment regimes and investment protection."1 It was conceived as a free-standing treaty that would eventually apply to all countries, constituting the global rules on investment-related matters.
While negotiations on the MAI at the OECD broke down in October 1998, expert witnesses and citizens emphasized the importance of the committee continuing its examination of the proposed MAI rules.
It is clear that the fundamental issues arising from the failed MAI remain highly relevant, as similar but previously little-known rules are contained in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and MAI-style provisions are very likely to re-emerge soon during future negotiations of other international agreements.
The first of two phases of the committee's work focused on gathering and disseminating expert testimony on the proposed MAI and the main issues arising out of it. A major part of this phase was eight full days of public hearings held in September and October 1998 in Vancouver and Victoria. Eighty-seven specialists with diverse backgrounds from British Columbia, elsewhere in Canada, the United States, and Europe presented testimony. These expert witness hearings were recorded, transcribed and published in Hansard, which is available free to the public.
At the conclusion of the expert and specialist public hearing phase, the committee published its first report on the proposed MAI. The report contained 22 recommendations.
Part I of this 194-page report describes the MAI. It considers how the draft agreement came about, highlights what it is designed to achieve and outlines the current status of negotiations.
Part II of the report examines the key elements of the proposed MAI. Based on the testimony of experts from British Columbia, Canada, the United States and Europe, the report examines the agreement's main provisions and considers their significance.
Part III highlights some of the many important impacts the MAI could have on British Columbians' everyday lives. It describes how the MAI, if it were implemented, could affect many aspects of life in B.C. -- from how we create jobs and attract investment to how we manage our resources, protect our environment, provide health care and other social services, and run our local, domestic and international affairs democratically.
Part IV explores an alternative approach to developing a framework for international investment which may hold promise for more balanced, fair and stable rules for a global economy.
The Special Committee on the MAI has attracted exceptionally high public interest. To date, 89 expert and 361 public witnesses have appeared, 345 written submissions have been received, 838 pages of testimony transcribed in Hansard, over 1,500 inquiries or requests for information have been registered, and 1,315 copies of the first report have been distributed. Many members of the public have also visited the committee's web site.
This first report is available on the committee's web site (www.legis.gov.bc.ca/cmt/mai/), or from the Clerk of Committees, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C., Canada V8V 1X4.
The second stage of public hearings was designed to obtain the views of British Columbians throughout the province. Between February 17 and March 12, 1999, the committee heard oral presentations from 361 individuals or groups during public hearings in Terrace, Prince George, Nelson, Courtenay, Victoria, Surrey, Kamloops, Kelowna, Vancouver and Burnaby. The committee received 307 written presentations from British Columbians. As was the case in the first phase, these public hearings were recorded, transcribed and published in Hansard, which is available free to the public.
This second and final report of the committee is divided into three parts as follows:
Part I describes the work of the committee in the context of recent events concerning international investment negotiations. It reviews the current status of negotiations on international investment rules and the work of other legislative bodies in examining the MAI.
Part II highlights British Columbians' concerns about international trade and investment provisions similar to those contained in the proposed MAI. This section considers the ramifications of international investor-state dispute settlement processes for B.C. It examines how MAI-style rules would affect the province's economic development, municipal governments, small businesses, and local employment and benefits. It also discusses the role of foreign direct investment and the impact of international investment rules on international development and international financial stability.
The concluding section of the report sets out what lessons British Columbians have learned from the MAI process and how they may be applied in future international investment negotiations. This section considers the impacts of MAI-like rules on sovereignty and democratic accountability. This section reviews the essential preconditions that must be fulfilled before Canada engages in further international investment negotiations. It also includes the committee's recommendations.
Finally, to reflect the importance of British Columbians' direct input into this process, this second report incorporates numerous excerpts from citizens' testimony provided during these regional public hearings. Additional selected quotations have also been collated and appear in Appendix I. The testimony of the Committee Chair, Joan Smallwood, MLA, is also appended, as is the list of submissions.
1
Communiqué, Meeting of the OECD Ministerial Council, Paris, May 24, 1995.[ PREVIOUS | CONTENTS | NEXT ]
Copyright © 1999: Queen's Printer, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada