Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and hopefully my Internet connection stays hooked up.
This is to both Mr. Balsillie and Professor Balding. The rest of the world seems to understand the importance of what is happening as far as IP is concerned. Perhaps after Wednesday's vote with regard to the UN Security Council, we can get back to focusing on Canadian jobs and giving proper attention to policies for Canadians.
Professor Balding, you mentioned the following in a tweet: “Beijing has made it clear for sometime it wants to do away with the liberal international order. Continued multilateral steps toward openness and respect for human rights are dead if you accept the Chinese vision.”
As someone with intimate knowledge of the Chinese government and their economy, I wonder if you could put this into the context of our study on the Investment Canada Act. We've heard testimony, for example, that suggests that Canada needs to clarify its foreign investment rules, and as the COVID-19 pandemic puts the country at heightened risk of strategic takeovers by aggressive foreign actors like China, the suggestion has been made that potential takeovers by Chinese state-owned enterprises in particular could be used on behalf of the Communist Party of China to advance its foreign strategic interests.
Over the short and long terms, could you expand on what you believe are the foreign strategic interests of the Chinese government? What are the risks to Canadian assets? Should we impose a complete moratorium on these investments, or at the very least significantly strengthen the national security provisions of the ICA?