China has $106-billion to investChina gives green light to invest in Canada
Take the "Gone Fishing" sign down from the window. Canada is open for business again.
Aweek after the Harper government blocked BHP Billiton's bid for PotashCorp., Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced Wednesday in a pressrelease that China's government has cleared that way for some of the country's investors to plow as much money as they want into Canada.
Chinamaintains something called the Qualified Domestic InstitutionalInvestor Program, which determines which money managers get to investoutside China, and where. China's banking, securities and insuranceregulators all must agree before the institutions and investors theyregulate can invest abroad. On Wednesday, Mr. Flaherty saidthat the insurance regulator gave the green light to Canada, matchingearlier decisions by the banking and securities authorities.
Chinese insurance companies have more than $106-billion to invest, Finance said in a press release.
ForMr. Flaherty, the agreement represents a victory won through leg workand face time. Over the last couple of years, the Harper government hastaken a totally different approach with China, dropping the publiccomplaints about the country's human rights record, and insteadfocusing on building trade-and-investment links.
"WhenI was there in January 2007, we had some discussions about some issues,and there was not a lot of progress right after that," Mr. Flahertysaid in an interview after arriving in Seoul for the Group of 20 Summit. "This year has been quite different…It is indicative of an increasingly positive relationship."
And, Mr. Minister, what is the, er, net benefit to Canada?
"More investment," Mr. Flaherty said. "We are open for investment, despite that one particular investment that was disallowed."