Expropriation of private property by the provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador risks punishment of Canada's central government by NAFTA tribunal.

Some news stories require critical thinking and reading between the lines to understand just what is being said.  This one from Canada's Financial Post, can simply be read at face value.

The two most important acknowledgements are these:

1. As far as Canada is concerned, NAFTA is a treaty.
2. NAFTA's Chapter 11 gives foreign companies more rights than national citizens.

If you don't have time to read the whole article on the government of Newfoundland and Labrador taking the property of Abitibi Bowater, here's raw meat of the story:

...international treaties override domestic laws so NAFTA trumps the act. Ch. 11 also contains general obligations to give investors from the three NAFTA countries "national" and "fair and equitable" treatment under international law, and it is solely international law which applies to NAFTA. Does the Canadian charter of Rights and Freedoms say anything about this? The Charter protects personal rights only and does nothing for property or corporate rights. So does the above analysis mean that foreign investors have better protection from unfair or arbitrary parliaments and legislatures than Canadians? Yes, they do.

Note: The French(Canadian) and Spanish versions of NAFTA are respectively;  Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN) and Accord de libre-échange nord-américain (ALENA).  The underlined words being the words for treaty in those two languages.  While the US Senate passed NAFTA on a simply majority vote rather than the 2/3rd super majority our Constitution requires for treaties, our NAFTA partners and international lawyers view NAFTA as nonetheless a legally binding treaty.  The best way to correct this abuse of our Constitution and the usurpation of our national sovereignty is to repeal or otherwise withdraw our country from the NAFTA - agreement.

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