Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, I wish it did not have to be a short question because it is a big topic. Does the hon. member for Burnaby—New Westminster have any idea why a government that claims to be interested in doing a national security review of foreign investments coming into Canada has refused, first in 2009 with the amendments to the Investment Canada Act and now with Bill C-60, to reject a clear definition of national security such as one would find when dealing with national security issues under CSIS?
Peter Julian: Mr. Speaker, the member’s question is critical. We had just a few months ago over 70% of Canadians saying that they did not believe the government should rubber-stamp the takeover of Nexen, a company in Calgary, by CNOOC. I went to Calgary many times and Albertans were the strongest opposed to this. The Conservative government rubber-stamped it. It said that it would sell Nexen to CNOOC and would sell out any other company.
Then to compound the government’s error, in this budget document it is actually trying to have fewer of these takeovers even looked at by the federal government. Conservatives rubber-stamped it. They are irresponsible and now they are trying to hide their crime by changing the whole fashion in which we look at these Investment Canada issues. It is a lack of respect for Canadians to say that Canadians should not have some way of looking at whether the takeover is in Canada’s interest.