The Ipsos Reid survey, conducted exclusively for Postmedia News and Global TV, found that 68 per cent of Canadians believe the Conservative government should block the sale of Canadian firms to “all foreign investors.”
Moreover, 74 per cent of Canadians say the governing Tories should stop such proposed acquisitions if they are made by state-owned enterprises owned by a foreign government.
The poll also cast a fresh light on public attitudes towards Canada’s international trade agenda. Most Canadians (61 per cent) support the idea of increasing trade with Asia — a key element of the federal government’s economic plan.
However, there is a note of caution among Canadians about doing business with China. Prime Minister Stephen Harper travelled to that country earlier this year and there has been preliminary discussion about launching talks for a free-trade deal.
But a majority of Canadians (59 per cent) say they oppose a free-trade agreement with China that would be similar to the one struck with the United States 25 years ago.
The nationwide survey comes after Harper announced earlier this month his government will allow the $15.1-billion takeover of Nexen by a Chinese state-owned enterprise, but that future sales of this type in the Canadian oil patch will only occur under “exceptional” circumstances.
Harper also revealed the Tories had approved a $6-billion bid from Malaysian national energy company Petronas for a Calgary-based natural gas producer, Progress Energy Resources.
Under the new plan, the government will only approve such transactions for the oil sands on an “exceptional basis,” and proposed that takeovers by state-owned enterprises, known as SOEs, for all industries will be judged using strict criteria.
The new Ipsos Reid poll confirms that Harper is in sync with Canadians’ sentiment on the issue.
“The government’s position is very much informed by an understanding of public opinion.” Ipsos Reid president Darrell Bricker said Tuesday.
“It was like, ‘We’re holding our nose. We’re doing this because we feel we need to do something when it comes to this type of trade. But very reluctantly.’ ”
When he announced the government’s policy on foreign investment on Dec. 7, Harper took pains to stress that the Tories’ approval of the Nexen and Progress sales was “not the beginning of a trend, but rather the end of a trend.”
“The larger purposes of state-owned enterprises may go well beyond the commercial objectives of privately owned companies,” Harper said, adding that he was concerned the oil industry could be controlled by foreign interests unless his government stepped in.
“To be blunt, Canadians have not spent years reducing the ownership of sectors of the economy by our own governments, only to see them bought and controlled by foreign governments instead.”
For future takeover applications by SOEs, the government will consider the degree of control or influence it will exert on the company and industry and the extent to which a “foreign state” will likely control the company.
Harper dismissed suggestions his policy will scare off foreign investors, stressing that the private sector looks to Canada as a great place in which to invest.
However, Bricker noted that two-thirds of Canadians oppose the sale of Canadian firms to all foreign investors.
“The government is dealing with a fairly hostile environment,” said Bricker. “They haven’t really made a strong case.”
“Harper’s trying to walk that very fine line. And it’s very important for the government to do this because trade is one of the things that they see underpinning their economic message to Canadians. So they really can’t afford to get this one wrong.”
Advocates of outside investment in Canada’s oil industry say the input of foreign capital is needed to pump billions of dollars into projects.
However, the new poll found that most Canadians (56 per cent) disagreed with the statement that “if Canada wants its oil and gas sector to grow, it needs to attract foreign investment from countries like China.”
While the poll found majority support (61 per cent) for enhanced trade to Asia, the support drops for specific countries: India (56 per cent) and China (51 per cent).
The results are from a poll conducted Dec. 7 to 12. For the survey, a sample of 1,021 Canadians from Ipsos’s Canadian online panel was interviewed online.
The margin of error is considered to be 3.5 percentage points.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Mark Kennedy
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