Published Friday June 27th, 2008
Report Business groups laud the recommendations
Canwest News Service
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/search/article/338530
Canada should ease foreign investment restrictions on telecommunications,
air transport and uranium mining companies to enhance competition, a
government-appointed expert panel said Thursday.
Uranium sector cheers panel's call for liberalization
Published Friday June 27th, 2008
Peter Koven
Canwest News Service
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/search/article/338553
TORONTO - The two dominant players in Canada's uranium sector are cheering
the Competition Policy Review Panel's call for liberalization of the
industry - a call that comes with an enormous condition.
The global uranium industry holds strict limits on foreign investment that
date back to Cold War-era concerns over nuclear weapons proliferation. In
Canada, foreign ownership of uranium mining is capped at 49 per cent unless
a Canadian partner for a project cannot be found. Other countries have
similar or more restrictive rules.
The panel suggests that Canada liberalize these rules to allow more foreign
investment, but only if other countries take similar measures to allow
Canadian firms to invest abroad or get access to key technologies.
That is exactly what Jerry Grandey, chief executive of Cameco Corp., wanted
to hear. Cameco used the word "reciprocity" in its submission to the panel,
and that became a core part of the final report.
"I think the panel has come to a very sound conclusion that Canada should
not unilaterally change its current policy without demanding benefits
flowing in the other direction," he said in an interview.
More than three-quarters of global production is centred in just seven
countries, including Canada.
Grandey said there are countries "on virtually every continent" that
Saskatoon-based Cameco, the world's biggest uranium miner, would like to
invest in but cannot because of ownership restrictions. He also believes
that reaching liberalized investment agreements with other countries is
very achievable, because almost every deal in the nuclear industry is
already done through negotiated bilateral agreements. "The mechanisms are
already there for Canada to sit down with other countries and negotiate,"
he said.
The other big player in the Canadian uranium sector is the French firm
Areva Group. Despite some questions about what "reciprocity" would mean,
Areva Canada president Armand Laferrere welcomed the panel's findings as
much as Cameco.
"It looks like it would make it easier for us to do what we want to do,
which is to invest more in Canada," he said.
The panel broached another topic that could change the landscape of
Canada's nuclear sector: enrichment. Because of nuclear weapon concerns,
there are only six countries in the world that are allowed to enrich
uranium, and Canada is not one of them.
The panel suggested that Canada could open up its domestic market in
exchange for securing access to enrichment technologies that would allow it
to move up the value chain in the industry.
"I think that as a producing nation, we should be in a position where we
could participate in all segments of the fuel cycle. And (enrichment) would
be an increasingly important one as we go to the next generations of
reactors," said Murray Elston, president of the Canadian Nuclear Association.
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An increasing number of cottage owners across Canada are mulling the sale of their summer properties to reduce the strain on their wallets brought on by soaring gas prices, reports a
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