Evidence of meeting #70 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was changes.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
You wouldn't have any that were overturned specifically because of national security purposes.
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry
There's no reporting on national security under the provisions of the act.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
What kinds of reports are issued? The offers are public, right? If a foreign company were to offer to take over a Canadian-based company—
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry
First of all, there's a high degree of commercial confidentiality around the transaction, and that would be heightened in the case where there was a national security consideration being raised. It would be unlikely that either the investor or the Canadian business would have an incentive to make public the fact that it was the subject of a national security review or that national security considerations were dealt with in the context of a review of a transaction.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry
Notifications are made public. Correct.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Right. So, could we go back and catalogue which deals have been overturned for...?
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry
Yes. There's been only one transaction that's been rejected under the Investment Canada Act.
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry
In terms of the potash one that was mentioned earlier in discussion, a section 23 notice was sent by then Minister Clement to the investor advising them that they had a 30-day period within which they could make.... He was basically signalling that he wasn't convinced it was of net benefit, but he provided them with a 30-day window during which they could make representations and change his decision. They elected to withdraw the transaction during that period. So it's incorrect to say it was rejected.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
The ICA, then, has only had the effect of overturning one offer in the whole last five years.
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry
Correct. There are also undertakings. On the cultural side, there have been others. We don't administer the cultural side of the act at Industry Canada, so I'm much less familiar with it. But this is correct.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Do you have a sense of how many? There's a lot of discussion here about a particular act, lots of kerfuffle. I'm just wondering how much it's actually impacted investment.
4:55 p.m.
Acting Director, Investment, Insolvency, Competition and Corporate Policy, Department of Industry
In the cultural sector we understand the Minister of Canadian Heritage has rejected at least four transactions.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
4:55 p.m.
Acting Director, Investment, Insolvency, Competition and Corporate Policy, Department of Industry
They're rejected because they don't meet the net benefit test from the cultural perspective.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
So we have...I'm counting five deals.
Do you think there are companies that, for example, don't, because of the Investment Canada Act...? You're the expert, so I'll ask you. Do you think there are companies that are dissuaded from even making those initial deals because this act is in place?
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry
We don't have evidence of that.
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry
In fact, it would do the opposite.
If you look at it from a comparison of regulatory processes in many other countries, it's a very efficient process to obtain the approval or to have a transaction approved or not. There's not a set of regulatory.... It doesn't take place in every jurisdiction in the country. We consult with provinces. It has a start date. It has an end date. It's very clear what the minister's accountabilities are throughout. The factors are published.
In fact, if you go back historically and look at the data since 1985 when the act was brought in, the level of investment in Canada has gone up extraordinarily. To what extent you would argue that it was just the two contrasting regimes, that would be an analytical discussion, but I think it's very hard to come up with examples of cases where it's been an impediment or an obstacle to investment.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
Kennedy Stewart NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
I would also mention that under the Investment Canada Act, there is the ability for investors to provide undertakings to the Minister of Industry in order to obtain an approval under the net benefit test. Without the Investment Canada Act there'd be no need to provide such undertakings because there'd be no review of the legislation.
So any undertaking that has been given in the time of the act would be a benefit that we've received from the act that we may not have received otherwise.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As we study this I want to get some context to what we're looking at within the budget implementation bill because we, including myself, have delved a little deeper into the actual act, just the Investment Canada Act, or the actual legislation.
What are we talking about? How many pages within the budget implementation bill are dedicated to changes to the ICA?
4:55 p.m.
Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry
By my count earlier today, there are 11 pages in the budget implementation bill.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
