Where is China's oil patch pacman strategy headed?
News item: China Investment Corp. will buy 45 per cent stake in Penn West assets.
The question is simple: the Chinese government has sufficient foreign currency reserves to acquire the core of the Canadian energy industry in the space of a few short days. If that wouldn’t be permitted by Ottawa, then the government needs to put out some goalposts very soon. How much is allowed; how much is too much? Has anyone within the public service determined yet what those numbers are? Has the federal cabinet’s Priorities & Planning Committee signed off on that figure?
The horse hasn’t yet the barn just yet, but the shoes are definitely fastened. The time has come for a national debate about how liberal our nation wants to be when it comes to which of our national champions has yet to be acquired by foreign nations and their economic development arms. The time may be nigh when the discussion will be academic.
MRM
Maximum foreign investment in energy should be capped at 25 per cent with 75 per cent of all related new jobs in Canada. Otherwise, we’ll just be a trailer park with shovels.