Dismantling Democracy

Graeme S. Mount is a professor of history at Laurentian University. He
is the author of Canada’s Enemies: Spies and Spying in the Peaceable
Kingdom and The History of Fort St. Joseph, and the co-author of
Invisible and Inaudible in Washington: American

Bob White of the Canadian Labour Congress introduces 15 essays by labour
leaders, environmentalists, Ovide Mercredi, and activists in causes
related to the Third World. All oppose the Multilateral Agreement on
Investment (MAI) promoted by the OECD. The basic objection is that the
MAI is undemocratic. Most of the OECD countries are democracies with
elected leaders, but the MAI transfers power from them to the OECD’s
international bureaucracy and to multinational corporations. Nobody can
tell what the consequences will be until MAI takes effect, and by then
it will be too late to take remedial action.

With increased power for the multinational corporations, the rich will
undoubtedly become richer and the poor poorer. New government programs
(and perhaps even existing ones) will be illegal under the MAI. MAI
rules will prevent government intervention in the economy and government
support for the arts and local culture, health services, and education.
Nor will the private sector necessarily compensate for government
inaction. Andrew Jackson of the Canadian Labour Congress notes that in
the past two decades, Canadian investors have sent more money to other
countries than foreigners have sent to Canada.

Corporations will have a free ride. Governments will find environmental
protection next to impossible. Excluding foreign fishing boats from
Canadian waters may be considered discriminatory. It used to be that
long-distance telephone calls, financed largely by big business,
subsidized local calls. Now, as a result of competition in the telephone
business, long-distance calls are cheaper and local services, needed by
low-income groups, are more expensive. Telephone companies are giving
pink slips to thousands of employees.

Each of the writers presents compelling arguments, summarized in
conclusions. The only redeeming feature of the MAI is that Canadian
investors in other OECD countries will have the same advantages that
investors from the other 28 member countries have in Canada. Including
one or two contributions from the business community would have resulted
in a more balanced treatment of the MAI debate. That said, Dismantling
Democracy is a thought-provoking book that forces its readers to ask the
question “Is the MAI worth the risks?”