POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL
This simply is not an issue, except for the war-hawk types
in America and their followers in Canada.
Most of Canada's oil industry has been foreign-owned for
ages, especially American-owned.
If you are going to go on about foreign ownership, it is America's
ownership which requires concern.
But, no, we don't hear about that any more.
So why this about China?
Simply a further expression of deep American influence in
Canada.
America treats China as almost an unfriendly country, but
that is ridiculous, and it is a reflection of America's military-industrial
complex's way of regarding the world.
If you are going to have foreign ownership in energy - which
we do, overwhelmingly in oil - diversification of national interests would be a
good policy.
And if you are going to buy lots of manufactured goods from
China - which we do and America does in massive amounts - then you need to give
them an outlet for investing all those dollars piling up there.
The Chinese have demonstrated themselves good corporate
citizens abroad, over and over again - indeed, far more so than America's
constellation of international companies.
China will without question become the world's most
important economy within a couple of decades - no matter what America does or
says. If you want to be on good terms with China, you must play fairly with
them, something the United States, envious of their growth, does not do.
It is so ironic that massive, international American
companies like Walmart or Apple could not even exist today without China.
Last, Nexen represents a tiny percentage of Canada's total
production.
