First it was some groups in Germany. Now someone in Canada is filing a constitutional challenge to CETA. The key documents are here.
This is from the press release:
The Plaintiffs central challenge is four-fold, namely that: (1) that the federal government does not have the constitutional authority to sign, execute and implement treaties without the express prior authority or Parliament through an Act of Parliament; (2); the vast majority of the CETA articles and their impact encroach on exclusive Provincial spheres of jurisdiction protected by the division of powers under the Constitution Act, 1867; (3) the CETA guts and extinguishes the constitutionally protected Judiciary in Canada by creating foreign tribunals to determine property and legal issues in canada without any judicial oversight or jurisdiction of the Canadian Courts over the disputes; and (4) various articles of the CETA violate constitutionally enshrined rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and over-ride Charter guarantees that ground Canada's ability to mount public programs on Health, Education, Social Services, and public utilities including the elimination of subsidies, monopolies, and state enterprises for the public welfare. In short, the treaty places the rights of private foreign investors over those of the Canadian Constitution and Canadian citizens.
Here's an excerpt from the statement of claim:
the treaty is further unconstitutional for the reasons set out in the prayer for relief herein in that it:
(i) Relinquishes effective control and jurisdiction over property and civil rights in the provinces to foreign investors and international tribunals;
(ii) Grants primary rights to foreign investors and corporations over those of Canadian citizens particularly natural (biological) citizens;
(iii) Renders the treaty and investor rights superior to that of the Canadian and provincial governments and removes the jurisdiction for disputes out of Canada from the Canadian courts to an international ( ISDS) tribunal;
(iv) Circumvents established and pending treaty rights of aboriginal peoples contrary to, inter alia, to s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982;
(v) In its implementation, threatens to supersede the impact on all other treaties, ratified and implemented, accruing to the benefits of natural persons;
Any Canadians with thoughts on any of this, please feel free to weigh in!
