Trade Barriers to the Public Good

Free Trade and Environmental Protection

Alex C. Michalos

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9780773578593
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Public Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) were designed to strengthen investor's rights at the expense of community rights and environmental protection. Both deals have achieved their aims. Trade Barriers to the Public Good provides a detailed examination of NAFTA and AIT cases involving MMT - a chemical additive brought into Canada by the US company Ethyl Corporation Inc. When the Canadian federal government banned the importation of MMT under the Fuel Additives Act, Ethyl Corp. filed a claim under NAFTA Chapter 11 seeking US $201 million in damages. Alex Michalos uses a case study of MMT to reveal exactly how and why quasi-judicial international dispute processes provide significantly less protection for the public interest than the routine procedures for passing an ordinary Act of Parliament. Trade Barriers to the Public Good illustrates why and how constitutionally protected democratic rights are undermined by trade deals such as the one involving MMT and, failing termination of NAFTA and AIT - the author's first choice for remedial action - recommends precise changes in dispute settlement rules that are needed to protect individuals and the environment.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Philosophical Foundations and Method
• 3 Globalization, Democracy, and Federalism
• 4 Motor Vehicle Technology
• 5 EPA Regulations, Company Tests, Appeals, and Judgments
• 6 Harmonization
• 7 MVMA and AIAMC Report to the House Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development
• 8 Interim Report and Minority Opinion of the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment, and Natural Resources
• 9 Commercial Arbitration
• 10 Dispute Settlement in the NAFTA and AIT
• 11 Ethyl Corporation’s Claims against the Government of Canada under the NAFTA
• 12 Government of Canada’s Response to Ethyl’s Claims under the NAFTA and the Tribunal’s Award on Jurisdiction
• 13 Alberta’s Claims against the Government of Canada under the AIT
• 14 Claims of the Governments of Québec and Saskatchewan against the Government of Canada under the AIT
• 15 Government of Canada’s Response to Provincial Claims under the AIT
• 16 AIT Report of the Article 1704 Panel
• 17 Conclusion
• Appendices
• References
• Index