On September 28, 2023, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology (“INDU”) – the committee tasked with studying the legislation and activities of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada – concluded its study of Bill C-34: An Act to amend the Investment Canada Act and reported its proposed amendments to the House of Commons.
Continue Reading Update on proposed amendments to the Investment Canada Act
On September 28th, 2023, the Director of Investments to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry (the “Minister”) published the Annual Report on the administration of the Investment Canada Act (the Act) for the 2022/23 fiscal year.
During the fiscal year 2022-2023, the Investment Review Division reviewed 1,010 applications for review and notifications (which is generally in line with the five-year average). Of the 1,010 filings, five applications for review were cleared as being of likely net benefit to Canada (down from the eight applications for review approved in the fiscal year 2021-22). Notably, the average length of time to complete a net benefit review was 97 days, which exceeds the average time during the previous five years (of about 74 to 85 days). In this regard, the Annual Report notes that this should not be taken as “signalling a new trend in the timelines for net benefit reviews.”
The vast majority of notifications related to investments from the United States, with notably no investments originating from Russia.
Continue Reading 2022/23 Investment Canada Act Annual Report
Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne (the “Minister”), announced on December 7, 2022 his commitment to protecting Canada’s economic and national security. Focused on key sectors such as critical minerals and artificial intelligence, the Minister tabled Bill C-34, the National Security Review of Investments Modernizations Act, (“Bill C-34”) which significantly amends the Investment Canada Act (the “Act”) for the first time since national security provisions were introduced in 2009. Bill C-34 is directed at modernizing the Act to better guard against economic-based security threats that may arise from foreign investment and streamlining the existing national security review process. The amendments aim to enhance transparency, support greater investor certainty, improve Canada’s visibility on investments, and ensure that Canada is prepared to take action quickly where required.
Continue Reading Canada Announces Significant National Security Changes to Investment Canada Act
On October 28, 2022, the Director of Investments issued his Annual Report on the administration of the Investment Canada Act (“ICA”) for the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2021 and ending March 31, 2022 (the “2021/2022 fiscal year”). The Annual Report provides insight on key trends relating to foreign investment and national security reviews in Canada.
Continue Reading Canada Lays out Direct Path to National Security Review for SOE-implicated Investments in Critical Mineral Sector
On October 28, 2022, the Director of Investments issued his Annual Report on the administration of the Investment Canada Act (“ICA”) for the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2021 and ending March 31, 2022 (the “2021/2022 fiscal year”). The Annual Report provides insight on key trends relating to foreign investment and national security reviews in Canada.
Continue Reading Investment Canada Act: 2021/22 Annual Report
As discussed in our previous post, on April 18, 2020, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry released a policy statement announcing that, in light of the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, certain foreign investments into Canada will be subject to enhanced scrutiny under the Investment Canada Act (the “Act”).
Effective September 21, 2017, most of the provisions contained in the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act (Act), including those provisions amending the Investment Canada Act, will come into force.
Canada’s planned increase to the generally applicable threshold for “net benefit” reviews under the Investment Canada Act (ICA) from $800 million to $1 billion became effective June 22, 2017. The new $ 1 billion threshold, which is calculated using the enterprise value of the Canadian business being acquired, should have the effect of exempting most
Effective April 24, 2017, the review threshold under the Investment Canada Act for an investment to directly acquire control of a Canadian business (i) by a WTO investor (that is not a state-owned enterprise) and (ii) by a non-WTO investor (that is not a state-owned enterprise) where the Canadian business that is the subject of
In what appears to be a dramatic shift in Canada’s foreign investment review policy, the federal government has recently approved the acquisition of ITF Technologies Inc. (“ITF”), a Montreal-based technology firm, by O-Net Communications Holdings Limited (“O-Net”), a Chinese developer of optical networking components, which is said to be effectively controlled
