Bill C-648 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Investment Canada Act (enhanced ministerial oversight)

This bill was last introduced in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session, which ended in March 2011.

Sponsor

Claude Gravelle  NDP

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of March 25, 2011
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament often publishes better independent summaries.

This enactment amends the Investment Canada Act to
(a) require the responsible Minister to consult with, and organize conferences of, representatives of industry and labour, provincial and local authorities and other interested persons in exercising his or her powers and performing his or her duties under this Act;
(b) set the threshold for mandatory ministerial review of investments by non-Canadians at 100 million dollars;
(c) require the Director of Investments to refer to the responsible Minister for the purposes of an investment review any representations submitted to the Director by communities, trade unions, employees and other persons likely to be affected by the investment;
(d) require the non-Canadian investor to provide the Director of Investments with a surety that may be forfeited if the non-Canadian investor fails to satisfactorily complete all of the undertakings he or she has made to the Government of Canada in connection with the investment;
(e) require the Minister, in performing an investment review, to take into account the contribution of the investment to community advancement, and its effect on contractual terms applicable to employees and retirees and to undertakings in connection with capital investment by other parties;
(f) eliminate the prohibition against the communication of information related to an investment that is under review;
(g) provide for the review, by the Investment Review Branch of the Department of Industry, of all investments that have been implemented in accordance with this Act; and
(h) extend the timeline for the Minister to perform an investment review from 45 to 90 days.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Investment Canada ActRoutine Proceedings

March 25th, 2011 / 12:55 p.m.
See context

NDP

Claude Gravelle NDP Nickel Belt, ON

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-648, An Act to amend the Investment Canada Act (enhanced ministerial oversight).

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Windsor West for allowing me to work on this file.

I am so pleased to table this important legislation that would provide substantive improvements to the Investment Canada Act. This bill is the culmination of consultations with stakeholders, experts, academics and labour organizations.

This bill, entitled “an act to amend the Investment Canada Act (enhanced ministerial oversight)”, would, among other things, require the Minister of Industry to consult with representatives of industry and labour, provincial and local authorities and other interested persons in exercising their powers under the Investment Canada Act; lower the threshold for ministerial review to $100 million; invite submissions from interested parties; require sureties from non-Canadian investors; broaden the minister's consideration when evaluating net benefits; eliminate the prohibition against communication of information related to the investment; and extend the timetable for review from 45 to 90 days.

In other words, this bill would strengthen the Investment Canada Act to protect workers and their communities, something the Conservative government and previous Liberal governments have refused to do.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)