Amend the law

Re: “Oilpatch seeks takeover clarity,” Dec. 11.

On Dec. 10, for the second time in two years, Conservative MPs voted unanimously in favour of an NDP motion to clarify Canada’s foreign investment laws. The need for clarity on this file has never been greater.

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce has called on the Harper government to strengthen the Investment Canada Act and provide clear criteria for evaluating foreign takeovers. The chamber’s demands have been echoed by everyone from industry executives to the editors of the Wall Street Journal.

Even Conservative MPs have admitted Canada’s foreign takeover rules are still not clear.

While approving the CNOOC-Nexen takeover deal, Stephen Harper tried to reassure Canadians. Harper announced new takeover rules for foreign state-owned companies like CNOOC. For many, Harper’s new rules raised more confusion than they resolved.

Harper acknowledges that allowing a foreign state-owned company to own a controlling stake in a major Canadian oilsands producer is not of “net benefit to Canada,” yet he inexplicably approved the Nexen deal anyway.

Rather than define what is a “net benefit,” as stakeholders had asked, Harper added a new undefined term to the foreign investment lexicon — saying he approved the Nexen takeover due to “exceptional circumstances.” No clarification yet on what exactly that means; it doesn’t appear in the law.

Uncertainty on foreign takeovers scares away investors and damages our economy. It’s time to create the climate of certainty investors have been demanding for years. The only way to do that is to amend the law in Parliament.

Thomas Mulcair, Ottawa Thomas Mulcair is leader of the federal NDP, the official Opposition.