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ARTICLE · 16 AUGUST 2006

Canada Examining its Foreign Investment Protection Treaty Program

McCarthy Tétrault
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Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) is currently considering expanding the countries covered by its bilateral investment protection agreements.

CanadaInternational Law
John Boscariol
John Boscariol
Simon Potter
Simon Potter
Orlando Silva
Orlando Silva
Brenda Swick
Brenda Swick
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This publication appeared in: McCarthy Tétrault Legal Update, July 31, 2006

Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) is currently considering expanding the countries covered by its bilateral investment protection agreements. Potential future partners include a number of Caribbean and Latin American countries, as well as Pakistan, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Libya, Israel, and South Africa, among many others.

The Need for Investor Protection

International business carries with it inherent risks, not the least of which is the risk of harmful measures taken by foreign governments. Traditionally, when their operations were subject to discriminatory measures, unfair treatment, or expropriation, foreign investors had only two means of addressing the problem: seek a diplomatic resolution of the issue between the investor’s government and the host state government, or take action in the domestic court systems of the host state. For many reasons, these

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