Industry committee  When our clients come to us, we tell them it's the book value of assets. It's $312 million. At some point in the future it may go up, but we don't know when. My own feeling is that we don't need to worry that much about it because we will probably be given another draft to look at prior to finalization of the regulations, so I think we'll have enough advance notice, but it does seem unusual to me that it has taken this long.

Industry committee  Well, I can't explain the length of the delay. I do understand the issues. There are issues relating to defining “enterprise value” that were pointed out in our CBA submission in August. I think the government thought there was some merit to those concerns. “Enterprise value” could be defined as the purchase price--the Wilson report defined it in relation to purchase price--and it could also be defined in relation to market capitalization.

Industry committee  I should say Heritage Canada has put out a draft on their book publishing policy. That is going on, but I'm not aware of any Industry Canada initiatives.

Industry committee  I don't believe the Wilson report made a distinction between decisions to approve transactions and decisions to disallow transactions. The 2009 amendments only require reasons with respect to the disallowance of a transaction. We don't actually have reasons for the PotashCorp decision, because the applicant withdrew its application, so we're left without any guidance on that.

Industry committee  What would I like to see?

Industry committee  I'd like to see explanations that do not give away confidential information—we have to be very sensitive to that—but ones that provide some guidance, so that we don't have to rely on broad statements made in the media about why certain decisions were made, because that's a source of concern for investors.

Industry committee  Sure.

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members. My name is Sandy Walker. I am a partner in the competition foreign investment group at Fraser Milner Casgrain in Toronto. I am the past chair of the foreign investment review committee of the Canadian Bar Association and I have been dispensing foreign investment advice for the last 15 years.