Canada’s Engagement With China Should Seek Purpose Over Profit

The Gwadar Port in Pakistan, a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project that China has invested in as part of Its "One Belt, One Road" initiative. Beijing has ambitions to extend the initiative to the Arctic, opening up shipping routes that would form a “Polar Silk Road.” Amelie Herenstein/AFP/Getty Images

The number of Chinese acquisitions approved by Ottawa has garnered crucial consideration since 2015 with the purchase of key Canadian businesses such as Norsat International, a satellite firm; Retirement Concepts, a retirement home chain; and ITF Technologies, a high-tech firm.

China’s latest $1.5 billion bid to buy Canada’s Aecon Group is thankfully now under a national security review pursuant to the Investment Act, and will hopefully be rejected because of China Communications Construction Company’s (CCCC) poor transparency standards and past fraudulent practices.