Harper caves to AbitibiBowater

Media Release
For Immediate Release

August 30, 2010

The Green Party of Canada expressed shock that the federal government has reached a settlement with forest giant AbitibiBowater rather than fight the corporation’s Chapter 11 claim under NAFTA. Abitibi claimed that Newfoundland and Labrador had seized its assets in what was tantamount to expropriation. The truth is that AbitibiBowater was relying on a 99-year lease which it was violating by leaving the province.

“The terms of the Newfoundland Labrador lease were laughable, amounting to virtually free stumpage and hydro rights. The 99-year lease was archaic but was based on AbitibiBowater running the mill. The decision of the federal government to pay the forest company $130 million, without opposing the claim, is an outrage,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May.

AbitibiBowater filed for damages under NAFTA in 2008. When the company closed a newsprint mill in Grand Falls-Windsor, putting hundreds of people out of work, Premier Danny Williams decided to take back the hydro assets and resource rights that had been leased to the company. Williams’s decision was widely seen as acting in the best interest of the community, which was essentially economically dependent on the mill.

Adding insult to injury, the federal government has stated that in future cases it will go back and claim the damages from any province whose actions precipitate a suit. “The Harper government may as well take the side of every US corporation and attack Canadian provinces with this anti-Canadian policy,” said Jacqueline Romanow, Green Party Critic on International Trade and Development.

“As the representative for Newfoundland and Labrador on the Green Party federal council, I share the outrage of many in my home province who wonder how low Stephen Harper will go in his ongoing spat with Danny Williams. This low blow cost Canadian taxpayers $130 million,” said Marlene Wells.

AbitibiBowater is headquartered in Montreal but is incorporated in Delaware, making it eligible to file under NAFTA. The settlement must be court-approved and the Green Party of Canada is joining calls to make the entire settlement public.

Contact:
Debra Eindiguer
Press Secretary
613-240-8921
media@greenparty.ca
www.GreenParty.ca