Statement made on 15 April 2010 by Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette
Hon. Céline Hervieux-Payette:
Honourable senators, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.
Madam leader, Canada's non-renewable natural resources, such as the oil in the oil sands, are a strategic resource for Canada and as such are vital to our national security.
The purchase of a minority stake in Syncrude by the Chinese state-owned firm Sinopec for $4.6 billion, with a veto right, should alert us to the threats foreign companies can pose to our national security in the energy field.
Sinopec is controlled by the Chinese government, which has virtually no openness to the free market, as you know.
What does the government plan to do to protect Canada's net benefit, as stipulated in section 20 of the Investment Canada Act, because our non-renewable natural resources have strategic value to our country?
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