Industry committee  Thank you very much. I will say at the outset that while I am not an expert on Canadian investment law, I believe I have the necessary expertise to speak on the threat of state-owned investment. Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, thank you for giving me this opportunity to

Industry committee  I would take a slightly more nuanced view but agree in, let's say, general terms. The general priorities that are set by China are laid down relatively regularly, annually, by top leadership, and they have very clear industrial targets. With the foreign exchange rationing that is

Industry committee  I think it's very fair to say that a lot of these investments are made much more for influential purposes or for Chinese state strategic purposes. For instance, there is a U.K. semiconductor company that was sold to a Chinese conglomerate, and part of the agreement was that it wo

Industry committee  With the caveat that I am not an expert on Canadian investment law or on exactly how “net benefit” has been defined over time in Canada, I think it would be well worth looking at that closer and at exactly the requirements that are placed on foreign acquirers. There are many ex

Industry committee  Those are two specific issues that you raised. I think it's likely less of an issue for Canada because Chinese lenders are not necessarily lending significantly, that I am aware of, in any appreciable amount to either Chinese local governments or major Canadian industrial [Techni

Industry committee  I think there is a lot of truth to that. For instance, in key sectors what you will frequently see is that the CEO of, for instance, the first China telecom will become the CEO of China Unicom, who will become the CEO of the next Chinese telecom company. They are really all one c

Industry committee  If we're focusing on investment in Canada, the basic question is what we think of as national security. This is a question that countries around the world, especially in light of COVID, are re-examining right now. Even six months ago, if somebody had said that basic medical equip

Industry committee  Thank you very much for that question, Mr. Dreeshen. I think that is an accurate statement I tweeted. Let me start by explaining a little about how the Chinese economy works and their strategic investment objectives, which play into this. Every year, they are given a list of

Industry committee  Yes, that is correct.

Industry committee  Thank you for that piece of information. It does not really, and let me explain why. In China, a state-owned enterprise is a very specific incorporation classification. It's like LLC, partnerships, or things like that. SOE is a very specific form of incorporation.

Industry committee  Yes, and here's what I'm leading up to. There are many companies that do not qualify as state-owned enterprises that are also, first of all, either acting at the behest—

Industry committee  Yes, I learned that today. I would just—

Industry committee  They absolutely have a lengthy list, not just of companies but also of specific intellectual property that they're interested in, and they use a variety of methods. For example, even though we're using Zoom, China has.... Basically, the underlying technology in Zoom is used widel

Industry committee  The question, as I understand it, is which witnesses I could refer you to who would not be tainted by those glasses, specifically—

Industry committee  Absolutely, I'd be more than happy to get you a list of people who would be able to speak to that and who have experience with countries like Canada and some of the unique characteristics. I think I can refer you to some people. I'd be more than happy to exchange emails or someth