Government not extending review of lithium company takeover a ‘mistake’: expert

OTTAWA - An intelligence knowledgeable stated the federal authorities’s determination to not conduct a proper nationwide safety assessment on the takeover of a Canadian lithium mining firm by a Chinese language state-owned firm was a “mistake.”

The federal government misjudged the takeover’s significance to Canada’s financial and nationwide safety each within the current and future, stated Wesley Wark, a visiting professor on the College of Ottawa who focuses on worldwide affairs and intelligence gathering.

“The sorts of explanations which were supplied by the federal government thus far I discover wholly unsatisfactory and really narrowly targeted,” he instructed a Home of Commons committee Wednesday.

Wark delivered his remarks on the first of two Commons committee conferences to discover the takeover of Neo Lithium Corp. by China’s Zijin Mining Group Ltd. and whether or not a proper nationwide safety assessment ought to have occurred.

Liberal MP Andy Fillmore, parliamentary secretary to Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne, instructed the committee final week that the Trade Division reviewed the proposed takeover final fall.

The division concluded that Neo Lithium is “actually not a Canadian firm,” Fillmore stated, describing it as an Argentine firm with administrators in the UK and solely three Canadian staff “on paper.”

Wark famous that the federal government had the choice to increase the assessment by an extra 45 days, which it didn't take.

“To be sincere, I’m dumbfounded by the truth that the federal government was so assured about its conclusions inside that 45-day interval from the unique announcement of the acquisition in October by means of to early December that it felt it didn’t even must do any extra,” stated Wark.

He stated he believes the postelection political transition interval had an influence on the eye the case ought to have been given.

Whereas the choice “can't be undone,” it affords necessary classes for related critiques sooner or later, similar to contemplating financial technique within the assessment, and performing these critiques extra typically, Wark stated.

He additionally stated in equity to officers concerned, critiques of investments like these are resource-intensive and extremely advanced.

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Jan. 26, 2022.

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This story was produced with the monetary help of the Fb and Canadian Press Information Fellowship.

Word to readers: The headline on this story has been clarified. A earlier headline could have left the impression that an intelligence knowledgeable instructed the Home of Commons trade committee that the federal authorities didn't assessment a Canadian lithium firm takeover. Actually, a assessment did happen however the authorities didn't choose to conduct an prolonged nationwide safety assessment.