The Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) is an international treaty being negotiated behind closed doors by the 29 rich countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Under this agreement governments would become ruled by large corporations, who already dictate much of our governments' policy behind the scenes.

The MAI would further cripple our respective Parliaments' ability to implement laws in the public interest, by permitting foreign-based corporations to directly sue our governments for huge settlements through an unaccountable MAI tribunal. The MAI was developed to enable investors in multinational corporations to discourage any legislation issued by national or even subnational governments that foreign investors perceive as against their profit objectives.

The MAI would contain no provision to make investors accountable to national governments. If the MAI were signed and implemented, it would establish corporations as our final legal arbiter, with elected governments as their compliant puppets. In the words of Renato Ruggiero, Director General of the World Trade Organization, "we are writing the constitution of a single global economy."

The MAI is being negotiated with no meaningful consultation with the public. The MAI draft text was leaked to the Internet in April 1997. This outrageous proposal has been flushed out of secrecy, and its proponents put on the defensive, by a network of citizens, grassroots and national groups, and even concerned governments. Under the ensuing public outcry, as well as pressure from dissenting countries, the OECD has responded with more tactical manoeuvres. Negotiations will probably switch to informal one-on-one sessions with governments which are more difficult to monitor. In the end, the Canadian government may try to bypass Parliament -- unless citizens hold Parliamentarians accountable on the MAI.