Invest in Canada

Investing in Canada to get easier

by investor on 13/03/09 at 1:36 pm

The Conservative government plans to drop the barriers to foreign investment under $1 billion, a move critics say could lead to the hollowing out of Canadian business under increased foreign ownership.

The provision in the government’s budget bill makes good on an election promise by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to relax the rules on foreign investment, including measures to encourage more foreign ownership of Canada’s airlines and uranium mining.

“It is unfortunate to see the government of Canada acting more in the interest of foreign investment than in the development and support of a Canadian economy,” Brent Patterson, a spokesperson for the Council of Canadians, said yesterday.

However, Liberal MP Scott Brison (Kings-Hants) acknowledged that foreign investment is key to economic recovery.

Proposed changes to the Investment Canada Act would raise to $1 billion the amount foreign investors from World Trade Organization countries can invest before coming under government review. That threshold now is $312 million in asset value.

“We are saying anything under a billion dollars doesn’t need the review that we have right now. Anything over a billion dollars still gets reviewed,” Industry Minister Tony Clement told reporters.

“We need foreign direct investment … because that creates jobs and opportunities for Canadians,” Clement said, adding there will still be national security interests that will have to be met.

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