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BEIJING — Alberta’s new political leadership is calling on Ottawa to take another look at foreign investment rules blamed for a dramatic drop in energy investments from China.
When the federal government gave its approval of the $15.1-billion (U.S.) takeover of Nexen Energy ULC in late 2012, it came with a caveat: a raft of new policies intended to ensure such a deal would not happen again. Canada is not “for sale to foreign governments,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said as he effectively blacklisted state-owned companies from further oil-sands takeovers.
The guidelines sparked worry in China, and prompted warnings from the energy industry, bankers and lawyers. The guidelines, some have said, are discriminatory against China, and have blocked a major source of money that could be used to build a new generation of Fort McMurray-area projects.
Now, the Alberta government itself is taking up those concerns with the federal government, in hopes of again prying open the spigots from China. “We are urging a review of some of the quick changes that were done to our Investment Canada Act,” said Ron Hoffmann, the province’s newly named senior representative for the Asia-Pacific Basin.
The changed guidelines have created “confusion,” he said, speaking at the Canada-China Forum on Energy & Environment in Beijing on Thursday.
“We just think there’s some looseness in the language,” Mr. Hoffmann said.
Alberta wants the federal government to clarify what counts as a state-owned company, a question that can be thorny in a country such as China where the lines are often blurry between public and private enterprise. Efforts in China to boost productivity among state firms are also blurring the line between what is a commercial company and what isn’t.
The province also believes foreign companies should be given credit for a track record of Alberta energy investments that “has been quite a positive one,” Mr. Hoffmann said, referring to both CNOOC and Sinopec.
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