Veterans, Verdicts and Vocabulary - While Trudeau Continues Foot in Mouth Disease, We Have Yet to See Conclusion To Canada's Constrution Leader by a Chinese Firm

Aecon Group. Inc. has extended the timeline of its proposed takeover by a Chinese buyer, saying Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet is reviewing the deal on national security grounds.  With so many topics (bait?) happening for the Canadian media to be distracted, the acquisition of Aecon by a Chinese company continues to be reviewed by the Liberal government with little attention - until today.  With Chinese governemental links with the parent company it is more than a curiosity that this has only escalated to this level now.  Regardless of any uncompleted trade deal the Liberals have tried with China. We are about to find out what the Investment Canada Act means to the Liberals.

And where are our fearless Minister of Finance Morneau and "what does a Minister of Innovation do anyway?" Navdeep Bains on this file? Invisible. Crickets.  

As per Bloomberg "CCCC International Holding Limited is the financing platform for overseas business of China Communications Construction Company Limited. It focuses on merger and acquisition, and restructuring and management of overseas assets; and investment, building, and operation of transportation infrastructure in overseas markets. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Wan Chai, Hong Kong."

This review is not arbitrary and usually raised during most significant foreing takeovers of Canadian businesses.  The Investment Canada Act (ICA) provides: 

"the framework for conducting reviews of acquisitions of control of existing Canadian businesses, as well as reviews of the establishment of new Canadian businesses, by non-Canadians in Canada....Furthermore, for a foreign acquisition to be approved, significant benefit to Canada resulting from the transaction had to be demonstrated...

...The ICA narrowed both the range of foreign acquisitions that are reviewable and the scope of the “benefit to Canada” test to which these transactions must be submitted in order to receive approval from the federal government. The purpose of the ICA, as set out in section 2 of the Act, is:3

to provide for the review of significant investments in Canada by non-Canadians in a manner that encourages investment, economic growth and employment opportunities in Canada and to provide for the review of investments in Canada by non-Canadians that could be injurious to national security.

...Under the ICA, foreign investments are classified into two categories: investments that are subject to notification, and investments that are reviewable."