Municipal Buying Power and Human Rights in Burma: The Case for Canadian Municipal 'Selective Purchasing' Policies

Craig Forcese

ABSTRACT

Multinational businesses sometimes operate in countries with poor human rights records in a fashion that props up local regimes. In the United States, the failure of the federal government to impose investment sanctions on such regimes has sparked moves on the part of some municipalities and states to assert human rights values through their procurement practices. Under 'selective purchasing' ordinances, municipalities pledge not to purchase goods and services from firms operating in such countries as Burma. This development has not been repeated in Canada. The present article examines why Canadian municipalities lag behind their US counterparts in adopting these measures. It analyses recent developments in municipal law, and, using the case study of Burma, it argues that municipal selective purchasing laws directed at companies operating in Burma remain permissible in Canada, so long as they are sufficiently grounded in a tangible municipal purpose, such as the health, safety, or welfare of the municipality's citizens. It urges that, in the case of Burma, the country's role in the international heroin trade provides a proper basis for selective purchasing laws.

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Citation: (1998) 56(2) U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 251.
Copyright © 1998. University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review.
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