Law

Crony Capitalism in Canada

Posted on by Alex Healy

Introduction

My interest in writing this paper was to combine my understanding of Canadian law and its economic systems to discuss unsustainable practices in current government policies and develop suggestions for future improvements. Over the last decade I have been attracted to a variety of topics of academic research including, financial engineering and portfolio development, Canadian education policies, and foreign investment procedures.

My previous research and writing has examined the development of the Canadian economy alongside the development of the Canadian Constitution; noting the economic solidification of the primary-resource gathering provinces, for the benefit of resource-consuming centre’s economic elite. The solution for which requires a constitutional amendment to the division of powers.

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International Investment Protection: Examining Human Rights Implications for the Principle of Fair and Equitable Treatment

Posted on by Alex Healy

Introduction

The global proliferation of international investment agreements (IIAs) and the inclusion of the principle of fair and equitable treatment (FET) in over 2000 investment treaties has resulted in the development of a broad scope of legal protections to foreign investors. This has been accomplished through investment treaties, private contractual provisions between transnational corporations and “host-states”, as well as through the resulting international investor-state jurisprudence.

This paper will explore the significance of human rights within the sphere of international investment arbitration. A breach of fair and equitable treatment is central in almost every investor-state dispute.[1] Therefore, the majority of international investment arbitration decisions can be examined by their effects on human rights, generally, within host-states.

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Argentina’s Sovereign Debt & Financial Crises

Posted on by Alex Healy

Argentina’s political history has experienced as much volatility as its economy. Once a top-ten economic contender in the world, Argentina has historically competed with its agricultural export sectors in international markets. Due to a growing lack of faith in Argentina by international capitalists, the country has fallen victim to their most-powerful creditors. This paper will examine the historical, economic, and political development of Argentina as well as the alleged causes and effects of their financial crises. The Argentine economy was developed as a staples-export hinterland, especially under the convertible exchange-rate years, and has been subjected to years of legal uncertainty due to lengthy litigation which ultimately caused Argentina’s second sovereign debt-default in under two decades.

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Canada, Indigenous Peoples, Law, politics, Uncategorized

A Clash of Cultures in Canada: Friction and Reconciliation Between Indigenous Peoples and Capitalism

Quote | Posted on by Alex Healy

A Clash of Cultures in Canada: Friction and Reconciliation Between Indigenous Peoples and Capitalism

 

Achieving “Legitimized” Control Within Canada_________________________________

Settler Colonialism_______________________________________________________________

Capitalist Imperialism____________________________________________________________

Effects of the Law on Indigenous Peoples Within Canada_________________________

Reimagining Canada’s Future_____________________________________________________

 

“Non-Indigenous legal traditions exert violence on Indigenous legal traditions by insisting that its interpretation of law is authoritative and excluding alternate interpretations.”[1]

“We must ensure that the order we seek to dismantle, and it must be dismantled, is reconstituted with a sustained vision of respectable relations that does not deny their genealogy. It is necessary for all of us to move beyond any crippling sense of finality in our relations, and any despairing of colonial power as totalizing. It must be asserted that a decolonized future is possible. Yet, I maintain the ultimate meaning of decolonization, liberated spaces of living and identification for Indigenous peoples, is for them to decide.”[2]

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Canada, economics, Employment, Law, Right to Basic Income, Uncategorized

Canada Needs a Universal Right to a Minimum Income

Quote | Posted on by Alex Healy

Canada Needs a Universal Right to a Minimum Income

 

Table of Contents

Historical Development of Public-Assistance Programs______________________________

The Scope of the Definition of Poverty____________________________________________

Poverty and Negative Social Implications_________________________________________

Is Financial Security a Part of Human Dignity?____________________________________

The Economics of Poverty: It’s Just Not Working…_________________________________

Canadian Trends: Even A Dual-Income Household Doesn’t Preclude Poverty______

Canadian Welfare: The Last Door to Knock on_____________________________________

A Framework for Forwarding Progress____________________________________________

A Case for Human Rights Discrimination__________________________________________

 

“Failure to tackle the poverty and exclusion facing millions of families and their children is not only socially reprehensible, but will also weigh heavily on countries’ capacity to sustain economic growth in the future.”[1]

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A Macro Perspective of Canada’s National Security Review of Foreign Investment: Considering Sustainable Economic Security

Posted on by Alex Healy

This paper will examine the legal, political, and economic implications of the Canadian government’s use of the foreign investment national security review powers provided to the Governor in Council (federal cabinet), and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), in consultation with the Minister of Public Safety.

Beginning with a quick overview of the paired foreign investment review tests, an examination of domestic financial policies, as well as international trade and economics are followed to offer deeper perspective on the development of Canadian policies. A breakdown of the national security review powers is read in the light of Canada’s position in the global economy, to reveal flaws in the embodiment of the Investment Canada Act[1] (ICA) which could be putting Canada’s national economic security and sovereignty at risk.

Recommendations are made to include a more weighted consideration of sovereignty and economic independence, and formalize review behaviour, under the ICA’s national security review powers. The goal of this paper is to broadly examine perspectives related to integrating elements of economic security into Canada’s definition of ‘national security’.

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Canada: Constitutional Colonialism and the Capitalist Catastrophe

Posted on by Alex Healy

Abstract

This paper will identify how the development of the legal system in Canada, specifically the Constitution, has influenced Canada’s economy. This theory was developed in response to a general misunderstanding behind the fundamental reasons for the division of powers, and their subsequent influence on Canada’s economy. By examining Canada’s economic history through the “Staples Thesis” developed by Harold Innis, and extending the analysis through the complimentary paradigm of critical legal geography using “nomospheric” perspectives, we discover areas of inequality which have been created and maintained due to the unequal power relationships entrenched in Canada’s constitutions. In its entirety, the paper will demonstrate how Canada as a geographically-bound country, cannot be separated from Canada as a legal authority, which cannot be separated from Canada as an international capitalist economy. In application, Canada’s legal system continues to increase inequality amongst its citizens due to the socio-economic rigidities created through inefficient economic policymaking as constrained by the legal-spatial provisions in the constitution.

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The Poor are Canada’s Constitutional Castaways

Posted on by Alex Healy

“Poverty has been characterized by our political leaders not as a serious and systematic problem, but an individualized phenomenon blamed on the poor themselves… who are depicted as responsible for their own misfortunes. Charter litigation, in this context, is then revealed not as a means of bypassing democratically elected governments… but rather as a mechanism for calling the legislative and executive branches to account for their failure to respect the basic rights and interests of a group which has been totally marginalized within our current political system.” [1]

 

Gosselin v. Quebec[2] demonstrates how a condescending, stereotypical view towards poverty has permeated both society and government to the point where a real examination of any economic issue is not even considered.

The application of the Charter[3] should have no barriers to economic issues experienced by individual persons. By limiting the application of section 7 to negative liberties and effectively preventing courts from imposing positive obligations onto the government, citizens are barred from gaining back any advantages lost to the capitalist market, leaving society confined to the framers’ inferred economic ideology.

If continued, this ideology will entrench the existence of poverty to ensure that it remains an institutional representation of individual failure.

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