Little to fear, much to gain from Chinese investment in oil patch: report

OTTAWA – A new report is taking the Harper government to task over its treatment of Chinese state-owned enterprises interested in investing in Canada.

The paper, by Wendy Dobson of the Rotman Institute for International Business, argues that the government’s fears about Chinese firms buying up Canada’s oilpatch are misplaced.

Furthermore, she says, Canada needs Chinese investment to develop the oilsands because state-owned enterprises from the world’s second-largest economy are among the world’s most active investors.

Dobson says since Prime Minister Stephen Harper placed an additional barrier on SOEs in 2012, investment from China has all but dried up.

She says Canada should be more concerned with how companies actually operate and behave than their ownership structure.