Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'll just note, as a British Columbian, that there have been a number of really horrible examples of the role of state-owned enterprises in my province. I think the former premier Christy Clark at one point.... At some point in Canadian history, we were welcoming with open arms all forms of foreign investment from state-owned enterprises or those affiliated with the Beijing regime in China.
What I'm concerned about, as a British Columbian, and where I think in good faith we can get somewhere.... We had a warehouse in Surrey that was flagged as part of the belt and road initiative. That warehouse wouldn't fall under any of the provisions in this act. That's why our party believes so strongly that we need to include a higher degree of ministerial discretion to avoid state actors pursuing objectives that are contrary to the well-being of Canada and our strategic interests.
I want to give the minister, in this context, irrespective of what political party is in power, the ability to counter the negative impact that state-owned enterprises have had in my province.
The other example I'll give is that a company affiliated with the Beijing regime operated care homes in my province, and with horrible consequences. They were eventually taken over by the health authorities because they were so darn bad.
Thirdly, we need more ministerial discretion as it relates to state-owned enterprises because strategic agricultural land in British Columbia is being bought up accordingly.
I don't see how Canada taking a stronger stance against state-owned enterprises is going to challenge us, or that we would be in conflict with our WTO obligations.
Maybe the officials today can say whether China has ever taken action against Canada at the WTO. Has the Chinese government ever taken action against the Province of Saskatchewan—as I raised in our last meeting on this matter—as related to some of the things it has put in place to prevent state-owned enterprises or foreign actors from buying agricultural land in that province specifically? Are there any cases that you can point to there?