Harper Says Government Deliberately Unclear on Foreign Investment Rules

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

Canada: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

In a recent hardliner statement, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper straightforwardly stated that the federal government will not be providing absolute certainty on the rules governing whether foreign state-owned companies can buy Canadian assets, as he alleged that the Government of Canada shall hold discretion to accept or reject such transactions. These remarks were given by Mr. Harper during a Q&A session with Ivey Business School students in Toronto on Friday, where he chose to address complaints against the Conservative government’s December 2012 changes to rules surrounding the scrutiny of foreign takeovers.

While addressing the issue elaborately, Mr. Harper stated that “let me just address an issue that’s come up frequently since we announced some of the new guidelines on state-owned enterprises: that there’s a lack of clarity.” The Prime Minister alleged that “I would agree that there is margin, I would put it this way, there is margin for the government to exercise its judgement.”

Further justifying his point of view, Mr. Harper alleged that he doesn’t believe Canada should offer more certainty on rules governing foreign state-owned companies looking to buy in Canada. He stated that “in my opinion, when you are dealing with large state investors, foreign governments as the investor, I think it would be foolish for the Canadian government to provide absolute clarity. It is absolutely necessary, when the investor is a foreign government, for the government of Canada to be able to exercise its discretion and have direct conversations with those foreign investors.”