Prime Minister Mark Carney went to the White House last week to meet U.S. President Donald Trump. It was his first real test, and just about everyone agreed that he had passed. Carney was smart, funny and very Canadian, and he even seemed to disarm the president.
Now he faces a very different kind of test.
Sunoco, the energy giant based in Dallas and chaired by Trump ally Ray Washburne, is pushing to take over Alberta-based Parkland Corporation. U.S. infrastructure and Canadian retail and refining assets to create the largest independent fuel distributor in the Americas 鈥 and it would be owned by an American company.
At this inflection point in Canadian history, where years of globalization and continental integration have come to an end, our 鈥渆lbows up鈥 approach is now coming face-to-face with real-world policy choices.
A transaction like the Sunoco deal would once have been a no-brainer: there鈥檚 a buyer offering a good price for a Canadian company, and if the board and shareholders approve, there should be no reason for the government to obstruct the deal. The market will produce value and the right outcomes.
But Canadians now have to decide how to navigate a new world, and we must ask ourselves whether we鈥檝e learned the lessons of recent history.
Decades ago, Canada lost its mining leaders when Inco, Falconbridge and Alcan were bought by foreign giants. Now, instead of owning the world鈥檚 foremost mining companies and generating wealth in Canada, Canadians are working for foreign entities. .
Despite short-term benefits for shareholders, we know now that these deals robbed Canadians of their ability to build global firms. We also know that the era of taking free trade for granted is over 鈥 and that state power in the U.S. and elsewhere is being used more aggressively to protect national sovereignty.
It would be bad for Canadians to have an economy owned by others. It would be bad for Canadians to have merely a 鈥渂ranch plant鈥 economy, one that doesn鈥檛 own or control its natural-resource companies.
We 聽that American investors would soon look to buy up Canadian businesses and other assets, and we argued that it would threaten our national security and economic sovereignty. And here we are. Do we want to be owned by American billionaires, to work for them and have our wealth stripped away to pad bank accounts in New York and Dallas?
It鈥檚 hard to say no to predators, and doing so comes with risk. But we need to start saying no anyway. As the prime minister has said, Trump wants to weaken us in order to own us.聽Invasion is the least likely way for him to achieve that aim 鈥 it鈥檚 much easier to buy up Canadian assets.
In March, 聽to the Investment Canada Act to strengthen its ability to review foreign takeovers. Everything about our history tells us that the Sunoco deal is exactly the kind of foreign investment that would threaten Canada鈥檚 long-term economic competitiveness.
As the transaction awaits Canadian regulatory review, we must follow through on Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Fran莽ois-Philippe Champagne鈥檚 commitment聽to 鈥渢ake action on transactions that could harm Canada鈥檚 national and economic security ... and bring the foreign investment review regime in line with today鈥檚 reality.鈥
The government should kill the Sunoco deal through its review under the ICA. True, some shareholders would be deprived of a bump to their portfolios. But we are in the midst of an economic war, and we cannot further cede control of our infrastructure or accept more high-value talent leaving Canada for the United States.
In the Oval Office last week, to the president as the 鈥渙wners of Canada鈥 and said the country would never (never, never, never) be for sale. If we really want it to remain ours, then we need to think and act like it.
We have the tools. Now let鈥檚 deploy them to protect our sovereignty.
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