Hollowing out Canada's corporate identity.

• Author: Larmour, Adelle
• Position: NEWS

Business and labour leaders share concerns about Canada's corporate identity being hollowed out by foreign takeovers.

It is an opportunity for government, corporate boards, and banks to step up to the plate and support Canadian ownership of its resources.

Besides the most recent acquisition of Alberta's Prime West Energy Trust, other business icons like Dofasco Inc., Alcan Inc., and John Labatt Ltd. have been gobbled up in the name of foreign investment. Within the past two years, Northern Ontario alone has seen mining giants Inco Ltd. and Falconbridge, along with steel manufacturer Algoma Steel surrender their Canadian ownership.

Alberta-raised free enterpriser and philanthropist Richard Haskayne suggests that government should endorse tighter guidelines that limit the amount of shares anyone can own in resource-based companies, similar to Canada's banks, where shareholder value cannot exceed 20 per cent, foreign or otherwise.

As former president of the Hudson's Bay Oil & Gas Ltd., Haskayne has served as chairman for a myriad of resource-based firms, several of which were "made in Canada" mergers like Calgary's EnCana Corp. (Pan Canadian/Alberta Energy Corp.) and Fording Inc., now Fording Canadian Coal Trust, purchased by a combination of Canadian companies including Teck Cominco Ltd. and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.

Haskayne's experience in mergers, acquisitions and sales to foreigners is extensive, yet he remains a proponent for Canadian companies to step up to the plate and invest in the country. His new book Northern Tigers: Building Ethical Canadian Corporate Champions supports this position.

"Maybe directors have a broader responsibility than just getting the top dollar for their shareholders," Haskayne says. "Having sat on 20 public companies' boards, that is not an easy statement to make, but I can make it with some degree of assurance."

He uses Fording Coal as an example of companies investing in Canada that are now reaping the benefits of being the second biggest exporter of metallurgical coal in the world.

"We could have easily sold it to BHP or Rio Tinto, two of the big mining companies ... but where would that leave Canada?"

Frank Dottori, founder and now retired CEO of flailing forest products company Tembec, says there needs to be rules in place applicable to the country's resources so Canadians can receive a fair share of that value. It can be accomplished either through joint investments, royalties, or a depletion...