Changing face of Canadian foreign direct investment policy

Successive Canadian governments have been criticised on the ground that they pursue investment policy that advances the interests of the United States of America and its transnational corporations. Recently the focus of such criticism has been the investment provisions of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement ("FTA") and the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA").;This dissertation attempts to rationalize the investment provisions of the above mentioned agreements. While undertaking such an analysis, this dissertation reviews the origins and evolution of the debate on foreign direct investment policy of Canada. A preview on the historical perspective of this policy in this dissertation identifies the traditional concerns vis-a-vis foreign direct investments in Canada, especially in the U.S. context and contrasts these against the investment provisions of the FTA and the NAFTA.;There has, over the last forty years, clearly been some changes in the foreign investment policy of Canada. What this policy was and how it has undergone a change is the subject matter of this dissertation. Why were the policies adopted by Canada aimed at curtailing foreign control and ownership of Canadian business enterprises? How does Canadian policy fair vis-a-vis those of other industrialised countries? What does liberalization of foreign investment mean for Canada in economic and legal terms? These are some of the other questions that this dissertation attempts to answer.