Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, witnesses, for coming.
I'd like to begin with some questions for Dr. Burton.
In 2017, the previous minister of industry failed to request a full national security review of the acquisition of B.C.-based telecommunications company Norsat International and its subsidiary, Sinclair Technologies—both telecommunications companies in Canada—by China-based Hytera, which is partially owned by the Chinese government.
The Manitoba-based Tanco mine, which is Canada's only producing lithium mine, was purchased by a Chinese company, Sinomine, in 2019. Again it was approved by the government with no national security review. In addition to all the lithium it produces going to China, it also produces over 65% of the world's cesium, which is used in drilling applications. It is also Canada's largest deposit of tantalum, which is used in electronics.
In January 2022, Minister Champagne failed to follow his own guidelines when he fast-tracked the takeover of the Canadian Neo Lithium Corp by Chinese state-owned Zijin Mining Group, without a national security review.
It appears to me that the act, as it states right now, is totally inadequate in dealing with national security reviews and the minister's voluntary ability to do it. My understanding is that this bill does nothing to change the threshold, which right now is $415 million, so a state-owned enterprise also under $415 million is not subject to any jurisdiction or scrutiny by the minister.
Is there anything in this bill that changes the requirement, or addresses the request by the industry committee in its report in 2020 that the limit be zero dollars for the review of any state-owned enterprise, in order to ensure our national security reviews are done?