Definition of net benefit must be made public as Tories review Nexen deal: NDP

OTTAWA – The New Democrats are calling on the federal government to reveal what criteria it’s using to decide whether to allow a state-owned Chinese company to buy a Canadian oil-and-gas producer.

Ottawa kicked off its review of China National Offshore Oil Co.’s $15.1-billion deal to buy Calgary-based Nexen Inc. on Wednesday.

In reviewing foreign takeovers, the minister must decide whether the deal would be of net benefit to Canada.

But the NDP say it’s not clear what that means, and the public needs to know how the Conservatives are defining the term.

Conservative Minister of State for Finance Ted Menzies offered some explanation of net benefit today.

He says it means making sure that Canada’s resource sector is well looked after and that environmental concerns are respect.