Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for letting me take part in this meeting.
The government has been promising for a long time to tighten up the Investment Canada Act. But it refuses to let Parliament do its job, which is to examine the proposed changes in an appropriate forum. The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology has also asked that the Investment Canada Act be reviewed.
In 2010, the House passed Mr. Layton's motion to reform the Investment Canada Act. It included a commitment that public hearings would henceforth be part of the process of examining foreign takeovers. The process required public disclosure of the conditions attached to any foreign takeover, a transparent process for monitoring the performance of foreign entities and clear penalties in the event of non-compliance.
The motion recognized that the purpose of the act should be clarified in order to encourage new capital and job creation rather than the takeover of strategic resources. Last February, the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology unanimously passed a motion that the committee undertake a review of the Investment Canada Act.
But the government is reneging on its commitment to work with the opposition parties, investors and the communities and workers affected and is making changes to the act by way of regulations.
The government has long promised to fix the broken Investment Canada Act, but these changes will actually negatively impact communities and workers. The government is refusing to let Parliament consider the legislation and is instead slipping change in through regulation.
Even the current changes to the Investment Canada Act do not go far enough. Canadian companies are disappearing and, as has already been mentioned, the concept of net benefits to Canada has not yet been clearly spelled out. I believe that it would be appropriate to conduct an in-depth review of the Investment Canada Act in a suitable forum. The objective is for industries, workers and communities to benefit from foreign investment. If possible, conditions should be established in a positive way so that the foreign investments provide benefits for employment, for our communities and for Canada.
As you mentioned, Canada invests overseas. So Canada could certainly benefit from investments too. But they must have a positive effect, in the sense that they must establish long-term relationships that benefit communities, business and labour.