Gray seeks takeover review

[fluffy]

It will be almost impossible for Canada to actually takes action on what is really an Argentinian company with primary shareholders who are Chinese. That makes a review a lot of thunder and no rain.

As it would be equally difficult at this point to renegotiate trade agreements that left our trading partners with an advantage. Mistakes of the past have severely limited our options when it comes to global trade. A global minimum on the corporate tax rate will help, but as you say we will see some pain in the short run, and the difficulty of convincing the corporate sector to forgo profits in favor of domestic production is obvious.

[fluffy]

Complaining about Gray may be of far more interest to several posters here. Shows their priorities, IMO.

Ms. Gray doesn't have any more ideas on how to fix this than you do. She's just trying to grab some anti-Lib camera time. Lots of that going around.

[rustled]

Complaining about Gray may be of far more interest to several posters here. Shows their priorities, IMO.

Ms. Gray doesn't have any more ideas on how to fix this than you do. She's just trying to grab some anti-Lib camera time. Lots of that going around.

Gray sees the value in a review as a necessary step in the process of taking responsibility.

People with nothing to hide should be ok with that review. A transparent and accountable government should have nothing to hide.

People who want our government to take responsibility and find the best possible solution should be ok with that review, too.

[fluffy]

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/no-national ... -1.1711051

[rustled]

Liberal MP Andy Fillmore, parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, told a House of Commons committee that the Industry Department reviewed last fall the proposed takeover of Neo Lithium Corp. by China's Zijin Mining Group Ltd.

SNIP

Fillmore said a formal national security review of the takeover was deemed unnecessary.

"These are the things they found, right? That in fact it's not a relevant lithium to Canada's national security interests and it's not really a Canadian company."

SNIP

In the end, committee members unanimously agreed to a Bloc Quebecois compromise to hold two meetings on the subject next week. The steering subcommittee, which is also to meet next week to set the committee's agenda for the coming months, could decide to schedule more meetings on Neo Lithium.

Sounds like the committee members are unanimous in not just taking Fillmore's word for it, then.

Thanks to the OP for bringing this to our attention.

[hobbyguy]

Liberal MP Andy Fillmore, parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, told a House of Commons committee that the Industry Department reviewed last fall the proposed takeover of Neo Lithium Corp. by China's Zijin Mining Group Ltd.

SNIP

Fillmore said a formal national security review of the takeover was deemed unnecessary.

"These are the things they found, right? That in fact it's not a relevant lithium to Canada's national security interests and it's not really a Canadian company."

SNIP

In the end, committee members unanimously agreed to a Bloc Quebecois compromise to hold two meetings on the subject next week. The steering subcommittee, which is also to meet next week to set the committee's agenda for the coming months, could decide to schedule more meetings on Neo Lithium.

Sounds like the committee members are unanimous in not just taking Fillmore's word for it, then.

Thanks to the OP for bringing this to our attention.

You are missing some key points: https://ampvideo.bnnbloomberg.ca/no-nat ... -1.1711051

"Liberal MP Andy Fillmore, parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, told a House of Commons committee that the Industry Department reviewed last fall the proposed takeover of Neo Lithium Corp. by China's Zijin Mining Group Ltd.

That review concluded that Neo Lithium is "really not a Canadian company," he told the industry committee, describing it as an Argentine company with directors in the United Kingdom and only three Canadian employees "on paper."

He said the only reason Neo Lithium "had any Canadian toehold whatsoever," was to get on the Toronto Stock Exchange in a bid to raise money for what Fillmore called an "increasingly dubious appearing" mine development project in Argentina."

Yup, they came to the same conclusion I did when examining who the main shareholders were.

It isn't even a truly "Canadian" company and has no actual interests in Canada, only in Argentina. The grand total of 3 Canadian employees "on paper".

It almost looks like one of the old "pump and dumps" from defunct Vancouver Stock Exchange....

Surely there better things for Canada's high cost MPs to be looking at. This is darn waste of time and money because the CPC and ding dong do nothing Tracy Gray want some stink press.

[rustled]

Sounds like the committee members are unanimous in not just taking Fillmore's word for it, then.

Thanks to the OP for bringing this to our attention.

You are missing some key points: https://ampvideo.bnnbloomberg.ca/no-nat ... -1.1711051

"Liberal MP Andy Fillmore, parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, told a House of Commons committee that the Industry Department reviewed last fall the proposed takeover of Neo Lithium Corp. by China's Zijin Mining Group Ltd.

That review concluded that Neo Lithium is "really not a Canadian company," he told the industry committee, describing it as an Argentine company with directors in the United Kingdom and only three Canadian employees "on paper."

He said the only reason Neo Lithium "had any Canadian toehold whatsoever," was to get on the Toronto Stock Exchange in a bid to raise money for what Fillmore called an "increasingly dubious appearing" mine development project in Argentina."

Yup, they came to the same conclusion I did when examining who the main shareholders were.

It isn't even a truly "Canadian" company and has no actual interests in Canada, only in Argentina. The grand total of 3 Canadian employees "on paper".

It almost looks like one of the old "pump and dumps" from defunct Vancouver Stock Exchange....

Surely there better things for Canada's high cost MPs to be looking at. This is darn waste of time and money because the CPC and ding dong do nothing Tracy Gray want some stink press.

You seem to have assumed I missed what you consider to be key points. Perspective bias may have led you to assume that.

What's clear to me is how you continue to prioritize snarking about the CPC - that seems to be the objective of this thread after all.

[The Green Barbarian]

What's clear to me is how you continue to prioritize snarking about the CPC - that seems to be the objective of this thread after all.

Or we can use this thread to commend Tracy on what a great job she's doing for us in Kelowna, and how happy we are to have her as our MP instead of some other guy whose name escapes me. Keep up the great work Tracy, you are the best!

[hobbyguy]

What's clear to me is how you continue to prioritize snarking about the CPC - that seems to be the objective of this thread after all.

Or we can use this thread to commend Tracy on what a great job she's doing for us in Kelowna, and how happy we are to have her as our MP instead of some other guy whose name escapes me. Keep up the great work Tracy, you are the best!

It is patently obvious that Tracy Gray is wasting parliament's time strictly for some stink press time.

This company has zero to do with Canada's national security. It just makes the CPC look stupider and dumber all the time.

[The Green Barbarian]

It is patently obvious that Tracy Gray is wasting parliament's time strictly for some stink press time.

It is even more patently obvious that Tracy Gray is doing a fantastic job, and the only "stink press" are the losers calling her out for doing her job, and holding our loser "stink time" of a government to account. Given how low-functioning and mentally deficient the people running our government currently are, we are incredibly lucky to have Tracy standing guard for all Canadians in these challenging times. Thank you Tracy!!

It just makes the CPC look stupider and dumber all the time.

Tracy and the CPC look really on the ball here, and thank goodness they are in Ottawa fighting for all Canadians against our stupider and dumber government. Great job Tracy!!

[hobbyguy]

It is patently obvious that Tracy Gray is wasting parliament's time strictly for some stink press time.

It is even more patently obvious that Tracy Gray is doing a fantastic job, and the only "stink press" are the losers calling her out for doing her job, and holding our loser "stink time" of a government to account. Given how low-functioning and mentally deficient the people running our government currently are, we are incredibly lucky to have Tracy standing guard for all Canadians in these challenging times. Thank you Tracy!!

It just makes the CPC look stupider and dumber all the time.

Tracy and the CPC look really on the ball here, and thank goodness they are in Ottawa fighting for all Canadians against our stupider and dumber government. Great job Tracy!!

So somehow you think that a company with no sales, no cost of goods, no operating income, and no Canadian holdings is a matter that is of Canadian national security interest??? It is a big fat nothing!

Would you buy a stock with no sales, no cost of goods, no operating income that has been around since 2015??

This is just Tracy Gray wasting taxpayer $$ and parliament's time AGAIN! Tracy Gray is accomplishing less than zero as usual.

[Catsumi]

There is and should not be any wondering why Canadian and foreign corporations prefer to take their head offices anywhere but Canada. See above, where all that “forcing” to toe the line to satisfy bug Overlords here that a gun to the skull is the way to do business… as I mentioned here or in another thread, companies have legs that are supported by their shareholders. Get out of Dodge.

Agreed,we do not have publicly traded truly Canadian corporations anymore. Why? Why not? Could it be that burdensome regulations (aka as “red tape”) chased them away to other jurisdictions?

Now we are at their mercy to supply us with much needed commodities and then we pay extravagant prices for same?

What a deal! Shot in the foot by ourselves.

[The Green Barbarian]

So somehow you think that a company with no sales, no cost of goods, no operating income, and no Canadian holdings is a matter that is of Canadian national security interest??? It is a big fat nothing!

Great - then there should be no issues with explaining why they passed security reviews that don't involve any Liberal corruption (which would be a huge change from the norm).

Would you buy a stock with no sales, no cost of goods, no operating income that has been around since 2015??

You just summed up every mining exploration company in the world. Of course people buy these stocks. Only someone who knows nothing about investing would even ask such a silly question.

This is just Tracy Gray wasting taxpayer $$ and parliament's time AGAIN!

She's not wasting anyone's time, and never has, so it's dishonest and disingenuous to use the word "again".

Tracy Gray is accomplishing less than zero as usual.

Tracy is a wonderful and hard-working MP. Kelowna is so lucky to have her, unlike those dark days of 2015-2019. Way to go Tracy!!

[hobbyguy]

There is and should not be any wondering why Canadian and foreign corporations prefer to take their head offices anywhere but Canada. See above, where all that “forcing” to toe the line to satisfy bug Overlords here that a gun to the skull is the way to do business… as I mentioned here or in another thread, companies have legs that are supported by their shareholders. Get out of Dodge.

Agreed,we do not have publicly traded truly Canadian corporations anymore. Why? Why not? Could it be that burdensome regulations (aka as “red tape”) chased them away to other jurisdictions?

Now we are at their mercy to supply us with much needed commodities and then we pay extravagant prices for same?

What a deal! Shot in the foot by ourselves.

I actually don't think you will find clear "nationality" to be evident in many corporate entities in the publicly traded space. In digging for details to confirm concerning lithium mining in the that region of Argentina it appeared that an Argentinian company was quite involved in the development, but when I dug into that, the "Argentinian" company Minera Exar is in fact owned by Ganfeng Lithium..... circles within circles within circles in the corporate game of shell companies. So what appears to be "Canadian" company working with an "Argentinian" company all circles back to Ganfeng from China.

In the specific case of the lithium mining operation I checked out it appears that were a series of shell company "sales" to each other and then to Ganfeng, even though Ganfeng was the primary shareholder of all. The effect is to inflate the book value of the investment in the lithium mining operation.

I ask myself "why?" are they doing this? Is to inflate the value to allow bigger bank loans? Doesn't seem likely. But, three other developments in Argentina might be motivators.

First, indigenous communities in the area are putting up a fight because their rights are being trampled on, and the environmental damage is too great. The inflated value of the "investment" in the area gives more political sway to help counter this.

The second is a political initiative within Argentina to declare lithium a strategic resource, moving it from state to federal control, and increasing the royalties from a miserable 3% to 6-40% floating scale (dependent on return on investment) as Chile does. Inflate the apparent "investment" and the same net profit becomes a much lower ROI, resulting in lower royalties paid.

The third issue facing Ganfeng and others is an Argentinian political initiative to have all lithium mining fall under a state owned national lithium mining company. If that takes root and comes to fruition, then in a fairly low number of years the lithium mines could be nationalized. In that case, it would be a tidy profit for Ganfeng to be carrying an inflated value on their mining operation.

That's the only speculative sense I can make of Ganfeng buying out companies that it already defacto owns. There could be other stuff that I am not aware of.

At any rate none of that has anything to do with Canada's national security interests. Neo Lithium is just one more bit player in the game that is being played out in Catamarca province in Argentina.

If I can find all that with a few carefully worded searches, surely Tracy Gray should be able to. It is a waste of parliamentary time to go down this rabbit hole because Tracy either doesn't do research, doesn't understand it, or just wants to make useless noise.

[erinmore3775]

There is no doubt that Ms Gray has used her request for a review of this sale of a Canadian owned Argentinian mine to a Chinese consortium to play favourably to her Okanagan base. However, the review would call for careful examination of the Canada/China trade agreement put in place by a previous Conservative government. The review would basically expose the bad policy of a previous government and do nothing to support or improve Canadian sovereignty or economic independence. It would have been far better to have offered policy suggestions or a private member's bill that would have offered positive changes and/or improvements to Canadian economic independence.
The CPC have, in the past, been supporters of Big Business and Investors and advocates of small government. The call for this review flies in the face of past conservative policies and values. Currently, the CPC have no economic policy. They have few ideas on how to improve Canada's economy, stimulate investment in manufacturing or resource development. Criticism has its place, but shots in the dark and hoping for a government faux paux is not the way to operate as the Opposition, the significant government in waiting. At the moment, Ms Gray is clearly demonstrating why the CPC has not gained traction with the voters and lost the past elections. I expect more from Ms Gray and I expect a lot more from the CPC and their leadership.