Stephen Harper defends investment deal with China

Les Whittington 
Ottawa Bureau 

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended the investment protection agreement he signed with Bejiing, saying it will even the playing field for Canadian companies wanting to invest in China.

“For almost two decades, Canadian governments have been trying to get a foreign investment protection and promotion agreement with China for one very simple reason: Canadian investors have not had the kind of protection in China that Chinese investors have in Canada,” Harper said during the question period in the Commons.

“This agreement allows us to move forward. That is why it has seen an almost entirely positive response from Canadian investors.”

The prime minister was fielding questions on the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) he arranged with China, a pact that could come into force as early as Thursday.

Opposition MPs say parliamentarians should be given more time to vet the agreement, which is designed to be unbreakable for at least 15 years (with a further 15 years during which either country can back out on one year’s notice). The opposition argues the agreement will give Chinese companies, including state-owned firms, undue power to sue Canadian governments at any level for passing public health or environmental regulations the investors deem discriminatory.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair urged Harper to give MPs a chance to scrutinize the pact before it comes into force. “The Conservatives have failed to consult Parliament or Canadians. They are trying to tie the hands of Canadians for 31 years with no study, no debate and no consultation,” Mulcair said. And he repeated that a future NDP government would consider abrogating the treaty.

Harper said such a move would be a mistake.

“The leader of the NDP is saying he would revoke the hard-earned right of Canadian investors to be protected in a marketplace like China,” he responded. “We know that China is an important market. We know that Canadians need investment protection there. This agreement does that.”