And Then There Were None

[farmers_son]

Although the featured headline today on CBC was the resignation of the U.S. Attorney General down the page there was a mention of the story of the sale of Stelco to U.S. Steel. Stelco was the last Canadian owned supplier of steel.

Does it matter that Stelco is U.S owned? Or that our packing plants, our energy industry, our automobile industry and so on and so on is foreign owned? Just what is Canada anyway?

What is wrong with Canada that we are not buying up other nations companies instead of selling all our own. We are not poor.

Is there anything left to Canada anymore?

[FarmRanger]

Good question. Why don’t we have enough Canadians who are able/willing to invest in Canadian companies? What is different about Canada versus investor nations?

[cowdog]

I believe it is globalization that is the push behind this thinning of the herd. The Conservative and the Liberals are unwilling to stop it because these take overs are very profitable for their primary supporters the Canadian elite who not only get paid far more than market value for their shares but, also are given directorships on the boards of the corporation doing the takeover. As you well know capital has no loyalty to any national onlt the pursuit of more. The big losers in this are us the consumers of their goods and services, who, must then live within a Seller's market place where prices are not subject to market forces. Take the current situation of the fertilizer market: AGrium is the only player so, at a time when we have low Natural Gas price we now have high fertilizer prices.
Monopoly is a fun board game but, moonopolies are why the Canadian government passed the Combines Act. Governance by the Elite is why it is nolonger used. As long as Canadians continue to elect governments under their control we will continue to lose soveriegnty and pay dearly for it. All Canadians need to learn that politics is about issues not beliefs and that no seat should be a safe seat for any party.

[northfarmer]

give it up on your socialist conspiracy theories.....I might suppose that the N American steel making industry is in a consolidation mode to remain competitive with the Chinese, have you heard of the steel making sector as a lucrative investment in recent time.....Canadians are major investors in the US, big time, in real estate there, Great Britain, and elsewhere owning and controlling major commerical projects in London, New York, etc....we are big players in global mining activitiy....S america, Peru, Chile....we lead most developed countries in economic growth.....plus who are we to be hypocrits, we have a relatively small polulation, large coountry with massive resources, and are extremely dependant on exporting goods.....that in turn requires foriegn capital and the free flow of both money and resources.......you cannot build a great country like ours with a one way border!

PS. there are four fert compaies I know of serving the prairies, Agrium, Westco, Mosiac, and Koch Fert (former Simplot).....plus numerous off shore suppliers of urea......what we need is a distributuion system to bring in urea from offshore sources as with our high cost of both nat gas and electricity in N America we are unlikley competitive to develope new production to meet what will undoubtably be growing demand for nitrogen

[farmers_son]

“socialist conspiracy theories”… I believe that is an unfortunate comment. Labels like that serve to shut down ideas and independent thought. What about capitalist conspiracy theories anyone?

In a democratic society we should be able to question our Government’s policies that encourage foreign takeovers of important industries.

Stelco is or will be owned by U.S. Steel. Does it matter to Canadians that U.S. Steel is the second-greatest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States? Or that U.S. Steel successfully lobbied the U.S. government for anti dumping tariffs against Stelco which had just modernized and was therefore vulnerable to trade actions blocking it from important markets. In the United States since 1980 there have been 46 successful antidumping cases involving foreign steel and 27 countervailing duty (CVD) cases. Should U.S. Steel operate behind that protected curtain, use the power of the American government and economy to punish foreign competitors then go into those same foreign sovereign countries and buy up what is left of core industries at pennies on the dollar? Surely Canadian agricultural producers who have felt the hurt and understand the questionable motives behind U.S. antidumping and countervail actions should understand the utter unfairness of it all.

Let’s bring the issue closer to home for agriculture. What about foreign takeover of farm land? Apparently Canada is an exporting country and needs the free flow of foreign capital and resources. Yet should foreign interests, who are heavily subsidized in their own country, be able to come into Canada and purchase farm land away from Canadians who are struggling to compete in the same global market without the same level of government support? Is that fair?

The reality is that there is not a level playing field out there even if there is a global marketplace. Stelco was the most modern efficient steel plant in North America. Sound familiar to farmers? Is it OK for our government to sit back and say that Stelco should be owned by U.S. interests? If is is then I guess it is OK for our farms to be owned by foreign interests. Really, it is not OK.

It is not OK for countries, like the U.S. or the EU and others to put protections in place for their important industries (whether those industries be steel, or grain and beef) while in Canada our industries suffer financially as a result of those foreign protections and subsidies with the end result the Canadian industries end up owned by the protected foreign interest.

[northfarmer]

i apologize for the broadside, you raise some good questiosn for debate...and yes inversley they could also be called capitalist conspiracy theories........

...all things equal, and in the scenario where there was truly a free flow of capital and resources, with a harmonization of both economic, labor and environmental policy amongst trading nations....things would be much more equitable and stable.....but as you suggest this is not the case so your point is well taken.....

has the US state department or whatever governs such matters stopped corporate takeovers in a simlar fashion as might have occurred if the Candian govt quashed this deal? We have our Canadian railways buying up the rails in the US and no one seems to be blocking the deals, we have Candian real estate developers building all over the world....our mining companies are active in many parts of the world and have major influence???

I find out national agriculture policy hypocritical as well, we build walls and tarrif protection for certain segments and then beg for free and unfettered trade in other commodities where we do not have supply management in place? the EU and and US are not better in this regard...all smack of hypocrisy....

[farmers_son]

You might be interested in this article:

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/208163

Apr 28, 2007 04:30
Canadian-owned businesses have been falling like dominoes in recent months. Toppled in a frenzy of foreign takeovers are such icons of Canadian commerce as Hudson's Bay Co., Falconbridge, Inco, Dofasco, Four Seasons Hotels, ATI Technologies and Algoma Steel. Next on the list could be venerable BCE Inc., control of which may fall to foreign interests, with some Canadian pension funds playing a facilitating role.

Why this spate of massive foreign takeovers? More important, is there a point at which Canada should say: "Enough!"

These are serious questions worthy of serious answers. Unfortunately, the sell-off of Canadian businesses to foreign owners has happened without a national debate on this emotionally charged issue.

As Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove says, it is amazing that the public has not put any pressure on decision-makers to deal with the "pretty alarming pace" of takeovers that result in foreign interests expanding control over Canada's economy. And Royal Bank chief executive Gordon Nixon expressed the same unease in his annual address to shareholders last month when he said that significant numbers of foreign acquisitions of our major companies is cause for long-term concern.

Unquestionably, investors who pocketed the $52 billion in proceeds from the flurry of foreign takeovers in the second half of last year are happy with the hefty premiums they received.

But can the same be said for the employees, customers, suppliers, accounting firms, financial institutions and law firms that had vested interests in the Canadian companies now lost to foreign acquisitions?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives treat this hollowing out of our corporate sector as if it were a vote of confidence in the Canadian economy by foreign investors – a healthy sign of globalization at work.

But has globalization really made economic nationalism obsolete?

To believe that is to deny any real importance to the notion of the nation-state. For what is the role of the nation-state if not to advance the economic welfare of all its citizens, not just investors? And can anyone really believe that the best way to enhance the welfare of a country is to allow foreign nationals to make key decisions on its behalf?

The Japanese certainly don't think so. Nor do the Europeans, or the Americans despite the lip service they pay to unfettered free markets.

Consider the numbers. While well over half of Canada's manufacturing sector is foreign-owned, in the U.S., Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland and Sweden, foreign ownership in manufacturing is under 4 per cent.

The policies and actions of such countries raise fundamental questions for Canadians that point to the need for an urgent debate.

True, Ottawa restricts the size of foreign ownership of some industries, such as newspapers, television stations, telecommunications and banks.

But why is it, for example, that Ottawa puts no restrictions on who controls the rich natural resources in this country when the U.S. imposes numerous limitations on foreign involvement in the mining of coal, oil and natural gas on federal lands, as well as lands that Washington has sold?

Or why is it that Canada protects no strategic industries deemed to be vital to our future, while the U.S. invokes national and/or industrial security to keep foreign interests from gaining a toehold in certain key areas? In the U.S., foreign ownership of a defence contractor, for example, precludes it from doing any business involving classified work. Foreigners cannot own nuclear power facilities and face other limitations in power generation and utilities. They cannot participate in coastal and freshwater shipping or operate domestic air carriers in the U.S.

And where such restrictions prove ineffective in stopping foreign takeovers deemed not to be in the national interest, Congress simply flexes its protectionist muscles. That's how it recently thwarted an acquisition by a Dubai-based company of port facilities in the U.S., as well as a Chinese takeover of an American oil and gas company with almost no U.S. assets.

Canadians should also be asking why Ottawa scrapped the Foreign Investment Review Agency many years ago and replaced it with a rubber-stamp successor, Investment Canada, when other countries are demanding tougher concessions for approving takeovers than FIRA ever did.

Why has Canada put no demands on the foreign buyers of its biggest mining company, its two largest hotel chains, its best-run steelmaker, its top wine producer, its major retailer, when both Britain and Germany won no-layoff guarantees from Bombardier when it bought aircraft maker Short Brothers of Belfast and German railcar maker Adtranz?

Only through a full national debate, conducted in Parliament and the provincial legislatures, in public forums and in the media, can such questions be answered to ensure Canadians' welfare is being considered, and protected, whenever another industry icon is sold to foreign buyers.

[wilagro]

And there will be even fewer Canadian businesses in the future as long as "Mulroney's man", is running this country.

"Canadians should also be asking why Ottawa scrapped the Foreign Investment Review Agency many years ago and replaced it with a rubber-stamp successor, Investment Canada, when other countries are demanding tougher concessions for approving takeovers than FIRA ever did."

Mulroney was responable for the destruction of the aforementioned "Foreign Investment Review Agency". Total "quisling" who "sold us out", in spades IMHO.

[madcow]

no common sense or leadership,no vision and no guts in ottawa

[smcgrath76]

You should look up a book called
"Why Mexicans Don't Drink Molson".
I gave my copy away, but it is a great read and a pretty good expose of why Canadian business functions the way it does both domestically and globally.