The government of Alberta is considering a private sector rail project connecting Edmonton and Calgary that has secured investment from a Chinese state-owned company.
The Government of Alberta is not a partner in TransPod’s arrangement with Broughton Capital Group and CERIECO, said Hadyn Place, spokesperson for Alberta Transportation Minister Prasad Panda.
“TransPod’s proposal is a private-sector proposal and the Alberta Government has not committed any funding to TransPod’s project,” he said in an email to The Epoch Times.
When TransPod announced the investment in March, then-Transportation Minister Rajan Sawhney—now a contender in the leadership race to replace Premier Jason Kenney—congratulated the firm on securing private investment.
“Alberta’s government is always encouraged to see innovative private sector ideas that have potential to grow our economy and create jobs,” Sawhney said in a statement.
The presence of China’s state-owned enterprises (SOE) in Canada have become a controversial issue in recent times as China has taken on an increasingly aggressive stance on the international stage, including aggressions in the South China Sea and military exercises in the vicinity of Taiwan. Beijing has also taken on a more hostile stance toward Canada in recent years, after Canada arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition request. In apparent retaliation, China detained two Canadian citizens, and blocked Canadian imports, after warning Canada of severe consequences for Meng’s arrest.
In a high-profile case, the Conservative government of Stephen Harper approved the takeover of the Alberta-based energy company Nexen Inc. in 2012 by a Chinese SOE , while expressing discomfort with SOEs and tightening the rules about such takeovers in the future.Ottawa has also in some instances blocked takeovers by Chinese companies in recent years. This includes banning the takeover of Canadian construction giant Aecon by a Chinese SOE in 2018 on security grounds.
Earlier this year, Ottawa banned Chinese telecom company Huawei from taking part in Canada’s 4G and 5G networks amidst security concerns by Canada’s allies.
“A lot of things that we think are commercial enterprises are in fact actors whose primary mandate is to further the interests of the Chinese strategic and military apparatus,” Burton told MPs on June 8, 2020.