ees would exert pressure on the water resources of provinces not party to the original export commitments, particularly if shortages arise in the province or territory that was. Accordingly we must pointedly disagree with federal assertions on this point. We should also indicate our disagreement with another statement made by the federal government concerning the rights of foreign investors under NAFTA, which is that "The same principles would apply to investors of other NAFTA countries as to Canadian investors." To be blunt, this is simply untrue. The right to National Treatment, the right to compensation for actions that ‘directly or indirectly’ expropriate investments, and the right to invoke international arbitration to recover damages – are simply not available to Canadian investors. These represent fundamental differences between the substantive and procedural rights of foreign and Canadian investors respectively. 5. Are the safeguards provided by Article XX(g) of the GATT adequate to protect Canadian water export control measures from trade challenge and/or investor state claims? Article XX: General Exceptions, provides in part: Subject to the requirement that such measure are not applied in a manner which would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between countries where the same conditions prevail, or a disguised restriction on international trade, nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prevent the adoption or enforcement by any Member of measures: ….. (g) relating to the conservation of exhaustible natural resources if such measures are made effective in conjunction with restrictions on domestic production and consumption;There have been a considerable number of international trade panels that have had occasion to parse the meaning of these provisions in some detail. In fact the WTO Appellate Body has also offered its views on the meaning of these provisions most re...
