It was the elder Trudeau who instituted the Foreign Investment Review Act which was thankfully jettisoned during the Mulroney years. Fast forward to the present era, and we now find the current leader of the Conservatives agreeing with Trudeau the younger that it should at least be resurrected on an ad hoc basis.
Why is a party allegedly dedicated to a free market economic system suddenly embracing this kind of mercantilist thinking? This is supremely ironic for a man who is campaigning on removing “gatekeepers” from the economy.
Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative party, is calling for the federal government to block Glencore Plc’s bid to buy Canada’s largest diversified miner, Teck Resources Ltd., adding yet another political voice against the potential takeover.
Under FIRA, foreign investors were at least well aware of the hurdles they faced when trying to invest capital in Canada. Now, the hurdles are invoked on a whim and can apparently come from any political direction.
From the “Conservative” press release: “environmentally responsible…environmentally responsible…environmental cleanup requirements…sustainable resource extraction”. In other words, Canadians are good and foreigners are evil. Even Swiss foreigners. It’s as simple as that. New Democratic Poilievre.
Dennis – I don’t know if you’ve noticed but there are lots of SDA readers who are not fully bought-in to free trade. Poilievre may not be perfect but if he doesn’t get elected next time, “gradually, then suddenly” will describe Canada’s transition, not to a carbon-free economy but to a wealth-free economy. The transition to Venezuela North.
Why is a party allegedly dedicated to a free market economic system suddenly embracing this kind of mercantilist thinking?
Because the Conservative Party is simply the establishment Plan B, the Washington Generals of politics.
Now, whether Tech should be bought by anyone is another question. Not sure of the details, but Tech is going through a politically forced splitting of its business between metals and coal. That is the problem. PP should be demanding the end of the demonization of “fossil” fuels, which predators are benefiting from.
Can’t believe that! Not from Chief Barking Rabbit!
Why beat them, if you can join them? It seems PP will be no better than JT.
Conservatism is a dead horse that drowned in a crater in no man’s land, when it decided to run over from the right side’s trenches to the left side’s trenches.
How do you vote yourself out of this quagmire?
Conservatives are not necessarily “free traders”. This is a classic liberal and Libertarian position. In today’s world “free trade” benefits the globalists who use it to reduce competition. COnsumers of products in a globalist free market also benefit, as per theory, but as experience in the West shows, lot of people lose jobs and countries lose industrial capacity.
” In today’s world “free trade” benefits the globalists who use it to reduce competition
That’s a lie. Literally everyone benefits except for some overpaid blue collar losers who make terrible cars.
“countries lose industrial capacity.”
Nope. America’s industrial production has only gone up and up for over a half century.
Delusions Of Adequacy.
Runs throughout all of the Parasitic Overload.
Never having built a business,never having grown a crop and never having even built a simple structure,they,our fearless experts and advisors,demand that they shall tell us how we can best do any of those things.
The Uni-Party opposition wing never let out a peep over locking up the healthy and killing the weak during the Dread Covid Theatre that they united to perform upon us.
All 338 were just fine with the deprival of every right and freedom that were supposedly our rights.
And the cost was never discussed,prior to their panicked shutdown of the country.
Only government is so stupid,that they act with zero consideration of the obvious consequences..
Rights that cannot be denied by government.
For if Government controls your use of such (rights and freedoms) they are privileges only.
And in the aftermath of this most egregious abuse of power,no elected politician is seeking accountability from the culprits..
As for “ownership” of our corporations,such as Tek ,it is so expensive and unpleasant being a Canadian Based company,that selling out or forming an overseas head quarters is the only defence left.
If you want to retain any profit and wealth?
Get it out of Canada.
Exactly.
+1 Politics as a bureaucratic career path.
Mostly BS and much ado about nothing much. All countries have some review of foreign investment. This is particularly the case for companies of strategic importance to a country. There indeed needed to be a government review of Hwawei before it became a major part of Canada’s telecommunications industry. Does anyone here really want the PRC having a direct influence and control of Canadian telecommunications? The absence of any government review is what directly led to the Mafia takeover of Canada’s entire dairy industry outside Quebec.
You’re preaching for sanity. Wrong crowd… on either side of the equation. Just read the comments below.
Agreed. Upon reading them it’s mostly demented nonsense.
“All countries are somewhat stupid” is not a good reason to be stupid. Also, this story is about GlenCore. Huwai and China are neither here nor there.
If you think the uni party right is going to operate much differently from the uni party left, you’re a special person.
Vote Max, or even CHP, but stay away from the uni party and all of it’s “uniqueness”.
Rumor has it Glencore recently paid a north of a billion fine for environmental rape and pillage and has a track history of sucking the juice out of its takeovers then spinning them off at firesale price and leaving remediation to the soon to be broke buyer.
Further they will be firing 5,000 management types in their Canadian corporate offices. Net benefit for no one but lawyers and insiders.
It’s this kind of “free market capitalism” that is gutting Canada and the US and fattening the financial ticks on wall st and in the city.
To the self righteous preachers here abouts there are only two possibilities for the next federal government. The clown car we have or the cpc which is desperately trying to avoid an own goal while political tides are changing.
Cut the poor bastards some slack… they’re the best option with a chance and are also beholden to some who can destroy their chance.
The machine seems to think this is a duplicate comment. It is not.
Rumor has it Glencore recently paid a north of a billion fine for environmental rape and pillage and has a track history of sucking the juice out of its takeovers then spinning them off at firesale price and leaving remediation to the soon to be broke buyer.
Further they will be firing 5,000 management types in their Canadian corporate offices. Net benefit for no one but lawyers and insiders.
It’s this kind of “free market capitalism” that is gutting Canada and the US and fattening the financial ticks on wall st and in the city.
To the self righteous preachers here abouts there are only two possibilities for the next federal government. The clown car we have or the cpc which is desperately trying to avoid an own goal while political tides are changing.
Cut the poor bastards some slack… they’re the best option with a chance and are also beholden to some who can destroy their chance.
Machine 1 : Simon Wagstaff 1 It’s a tie.
It’s a duplicate comment except for the disclaimer, which claims it’s not a duplicate comment, said comment being a duplicate.
I’ll stop now. My head hurts.
Kinda weird. Only pushed button once and the duplicate is before the original… anyways I kind of gave up on commenting here… I used to get roasted here 20 years ago for bashing the pharma snakes and pushing snake oil, now it’s accepted wisdom:)…I do wonder what happened to Loki though, he was as always a thoughtful modern medicine stalwart… I wonder if he got vaxxed?
Ahhh…remember ET, and BATB?
Numerous times in the last couple years I’ve wondered what Loki’s opinion might be.
As an aside and with no special knowledge of the Glencore / Teck issues the situation gives me me a memory jag.
I had occasion to spend some quality time with a senior Glencore manager and asked him the trite question: “What business are you in?” His succinct answer:
“We f**k suppliers!”
Refreshing candor!
Back when Marc Rich owned Glencore government regulations were overcome with strategic cash.
If governments are honest and incorruptible, regulations to protect a country’s interests are defensible. Otherwise the regulations funnel cash into the pockets of the powerful.
Anyone who is committed to a free market economy at this point doesn’t realize what a lie the free trade argument is and always was.
David Ricardo came up with the argument for his own benefit. The great historian of economics Schrumpeter called Ricardo’s argument style “the Ricardian Vice” because he eliminated the obvious arguments against his by simply writing them off so that he developed a teleology. Chief amount this is his argument for free trade and his “comparative advantage” theory, which was not true and could never be true.
I’m going to post an article in response to my comment explaining a 12 year old book’s argument about how wrong that theory’s basic assumptions are.
I want to be clear that I would never endorse the Conservative Party tho.
https://treeofwoe.substack.com/p/against-free-trade
A succinct read George
“The great historian of economics Schrumpeter ”
ROTFLMAO you cultists are about as pathetic as Randians just in opposite direction.
Lololfolofrololmaol
There, the usual natural of coherence than can be expected from a Schumpeterian has been reached.
Ricardo was right, and you and Schumpter are just butthurt. Free trade has been nothing but good, full stop. “Comparative advantage” is everywhere and always. Whenever you buy oranges from Florida instead of growing them at home, that’s comparative advantage.
“Anyone who is committed to a free market economy at this point doesn’t realize what a lie the free trade argument is and always was.”
Free trade agreements were used to create the global control grid that is strangling us to death.
LOL, all you devout anti-globalists are now all in for free trade?
F*** the hypocrisy of some here, you know who you are, never seizes to amaze me… and yet you’re still saner than the other side… which just pretends not to be Marxists, but they really are.
Free trade is for pedos. Justin is just waiting for a Chinese white knight.
Sorry but if the Chinese want to buy important things here then I want it reviewed against our strategic and sovereign interests. If that makes me anti-Capitalist then so be it.
RNrn
No, that actually means that you’re making sense. This will not be accepted. You either have to belong to the “UnMe Free Trade Uber Alles” club, or to the “They took out jobs” club, or to the “Western Civilization is evil” club.
This stuff is where the free market conservatives who worship it as some sort of good in and of itself lose me. Doing business with Glencore is like doing business with the devil. It’s not a good thing cause muh free market. Banning them from owning anything in Canada would be far better. These guys would shoot you in the head and rape and pillage a city if they thought they could make two cents doing it. And it’s bad that Pierre doesn’t want them to own a key Canadian company and its assets? Nah. If that’s ‘conservative’ in Canada in 2023 then count me out.
“Doing business with Glencore is like doing business with the devil.”
Regardless of your fever dreams, it’s my right.
As I have said many times, conservatives are just liberal lite. P P is carrying on the tradition.
Which is why, after membership in Reform, Alliance, and 6 years in the CPC, I’m now all in for Max and the PPC.
They are the only conservative (not Conservative) option.
Max and PPC have the same insane idiotic xenophobia. Max was freaking out over a Chinese company buying a gold mine or something. He’s also anti-immigration which is even worse.
100%. Been saying this for years. Conservatives in Canada bring in authoritarianism and socialism at a slightly slower pace than the libs and are slightly less corrupt.
Has any conservative gov in Canada ever appreciably shrunk the leviathan? Of course not. It’s not in their interest. Does anyone here really believe Pollievre is going to defund CBC for example? Ha.
“Would you like death by a thousand cuts; or 999?” Luckily most Canadians cant count that high anyway. Democracy.
PS: For what it’s worth I don’t think Max would be much different IF he ever got in. Yeah, I don’t have ANY faith in any politicians or the voter for that matter.
The premise that Canadian companies must be protected from foreign competition and takeovers is exactly the kind of thinking that has resulted in Canadians having to pay sky high prices for mediocre cell service and chaotic air travel.