Mr. Speaker, on this point I am going to surprise my NDP colleagues by agreeing with them and the motion they have brought forward today.
I think it is important that we hold public hearings on this topic. It is important that we hear from expert witnesses who have considered these kinds of questions and can give us their thoughts on the best practices around the world. Let us look at those. Let us look at possible ways to strengthen the act and make foreign investment work for Canadians. That is the key here.
We ought to make sure that there is a process in place, that conditions can be put and enforced against these companies, that there are the proper enforcement mechanisms to ensure those conditions are enforced, so that this kind of investment gives Canada the kind of benefit we want to see in terms of job creation, development of our economy, and innovation. We have seen that there is a lot of past history showing there are benefits from foreign direct investment in this country.
Another topic for perhaps another time is the kind of investment we have elsewhere. How do we encourage that? To what degree do we want to encourage national champions that are not just targets for takeover but are in fact doing the kind of investment elsewhere that helps to create those head offices and jobs in our country?