I'll try, Madam Chair.
If profits are increasingly going into the pockets of foreign investors, then the question arises as to who benefits from this operation. Is it Canadians, who have to foot the cleanup bill? My colleague will talk more about this in a few minutes.
Now, with respect to the motion passed and the specifics of the study, our report provides some answers as to the extent to which firms in strategic Canadian industries have depreciated as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
As you will see, the loss in the value of oil sands companies predates the pandemic, and we invite the committee members to consider the reasons for this devaluation.
In addition, if the phenomenon predates the pandemic, committee members are invited to consider a second element of the motion, namely whether Canada should impose a temporary moratorium on acquisitions by the state-owned enterprises of totalitarian countries, in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.
We also invite committee members to comment on why such a moratorium is more relevant now than it was in 2012 when the government approved CNOOC's purchase of Nexen. This raises the question of whether the nature of the political regime from which the investment is made is significant and whether this could be correlated with the devaluation.
Finally, the assessment thresholds in the Investment Canada Act are appropriate for a net benefit review. We support a review of the net benefit criteria as defined in section 20.
We invite elected officials to review paragraph 20(e), which deals with the compatibility of investments with national industrial, economic and cultural policies.
Considering that industrial, economic and cultural policies are increasingly linked to environmental policies, and considering Canada's progressive trade agenda, I think it would be good to include the concept of environmental compatibility in section 20 so that we can really talk about net benefits to Canada.
I now give the floor to my colleague Tzeporah Berman.