Friday Morning News Wrap

By Keith Edmund White, Editor-in-Chief 

Liberals Can’t ‘Centerize’ Themselves To Victory. Paul Wells at Maclean’s gives some sober advice to a Canadian Liberal Party still on the ropes: 

In fact, if the country’s assorted Liberal parties are in the mood for advice from the “department of easier said than done,” they should waste no more time seeking to present themselves as the middle ground between extremes. Instead they should find some extreme worth defending. What social end is so important that it’s worth taxing to achieve? What fights are worth fighting?

The decline of Liberal parties in Canada produces a kind of optical illusion. The centre isn’t disappearing, it is becoming crowded. Nothing about the Liberal name ensures the endurance of Liberal parties. Loyalty will not save them. Wit and heart will, or nothing will.

Two First Nations Tribes Territorial Dispute May Delay Major Canadian Wind-Energy Project.  The Anishinabek and Batchewana tribes are arguing over their territorial lines, which were set by the Robinson Huron Treaty of 1850. At risk: the 36-turbine, 80 km/~50 mile Bow Lake Wind Farm Project. Check out The Globe and Mail’s report.

Cyber Espionage Part of Doing Energy Business in China? TheStar.com reports on increased Canadian cybersecurity spending, but notes the skepticism of Queen’s University cyber-security expert David Skillicorn. And iPolitics.com reports on espionage as part of doing business in China: 

There are plenty of anecdotal examples of cyberespionage in the energy sector and some consider it part of the business.  

“One of the companies we deal with makes power plants,” said a source familiar with the Canadian energy sector. “They built a power plant in China and all the intellectual property was stolen.”

CNOOC-Nexen Deal In the Greater Canada-China Economic Context.  Conventional wisdom says that the CNOOC-Nexen deal will be approved. But the real story, at least according to Asia Pacific Foundation President and CEO Yuen Pau Woo, is what strings Canada puts on future Chinese acquisitions of Canadian companies. What I find surprising? Woo’s advocacy for ‘smart’ state economic planning in Canada. From The Globe and Mail: 

An opportunity was missed a few years ago when there was a bidding war for Inco. At the end of a convoluted series of offers and counteroffers, two bidders were left standing – Vale of Brazil and Teck Resources of Vancouver. Vale was the much bigger player, and Teck’s offer came as a surprise. Since the acquisition was subject to government review, Ottawa had a chance to weigh in. Support for Teck would have resulted in a much enlarged Canadian company ranking in the top five of global mining giants.

But Vale prevailed, and another Canadian icon went into foreign hands. To be sure, Teck is Canada’s largest diversified mining company and still a global player, but an opportunity for a “national champion” to enter the top tier of mining companies was missed.

The point of this example is not to bemoan foreign ownership but to bring clarity to the goal of building national champions. Blocking foreign investment in and of itself won’t create globally significant Canadian companies. By the same token, a purely hands-off approach to market transactions is no guarantee of success. If this sounds complicated, it’s because economic statecraft is complicated. Beware of those who would boil it down to just a few easy rules. 

Detroit-Windsor Crossing: Harper’s Hard Press & Michigan’s Messy Ballot Battle. The Harper government, in their proposed 2013 budget, is exempting a second-planned bridge crossing between Windsor and Detroit from environmental review. We’ll see if that sticks, or if the NDP or Liberals can make political hay out of it. But, perhaps more importantly, Michigan voters may decide the pace any new international crossing is made—and it’s bringing out colorful local politics. The owner of the Ambassador Bridge, Manuel ‘Matty’ Moroun, is pushing Proposal 6, which—if passed—could create legal hurdles for the planned construction of the Detroit River International Crossing Project. And he seems happy to deal for votes from both ends of the political spectrum.  Will an international bridge crossing be tangled by an unlikely coalition of ballot voters this November?  And how is this issue, unlike the Keystone XL pipeline, not getting any national political attention?  From The Windsor Star:

Critics say Moroun already has a deal in play with the group Americans For Prosperity, buying the group’s support on Proposal 6 by bankrolling its campaign on Proposal 5 — a ballot initiative to limit taxes.

Last week, the Detroit Free Press reported on Moroun bartering with the United Auto Workers for the union’s support on Proposal 6 in exchange for Moroun financially backing Proposal 2 — the union’s ballot initiative on collective bargaining.

Reportedly under pressure, UAW leadership backed away from the deal, with union president Bob King saying the UAW would remain neutral on Proposal 6. 

The UAW’s recent hints of support for Proposal 6 were made all the more embarrassing by the revelation that earlier this summer, King wrote a letter to the U.S. federal government extolling the benefits of a new bridge crossing.