Newman: Who benefits from applying the ‘net benefit test’ to the CNOCC-Nexen deal?

Canadians can benefit if the government applies the “net benefit” test to prohibit the CNOOC takeover of Nexen.

The only Canadians who will benefit if the deal goes ahead are those Canadians who hold Nexen shares and stand to get a sixty-one per cent premium over what the market thinks the shares are worth.

The other net benefit will go to the Chinese government as it continues its rampage to scoop up natural resources anywhere it can find them.

For the Canadian Government it should be obvious that this is not a business deal, it is a political issue.

What is the net benefit in taking a thriving company forever out of the free market, and turning it in a vassal organization of a foreign government that has a terrible human rights record, manipulates its currency to the detriment of the rest of its trading partners, bullies its smaller neighbours in the South China Sea, manipulates rare earth shipments to pressure Japan, and is protecting the murderous regime in Syria from UN action.