The opposition parties have succeeded in calling an emergency meeting of the House of Commons Industry Committee to wade into the sale of Nortel’s business units.
While the trigger event is the recent Ericsson deal, the committee might as well be looking at the entire business liquidation process, since wireless is just the first of a number of business units to go.
The NDP industry critic, Brian Masse said in a press release:
The Conservatives are using taxpayer money to help a foreign company steal very valuable assets at a lowball price, while a leader in Canadian innovation who is offering a higher price, is blocked. It is outrageous.
The Committee meeting allows opposition members to get their views into the transcripts, helping to build campaign literature for the next election.
Will the minority government resist the calls for intervention in Ericsson’s acquisition of Nortel’s wireless business?
Members should remember that there are a large number of Canadians who are employed by foreign technology firms, including 1500 Ericsson’s research labs in Montreal.
Last week, I commented on the harsh language used by Ontario’s Finance Minister, who was quoted saying that “LTE was partly funded with Canadian taxpayer money, and he doesn’t want it going to a foreign company.” This came from the guy signing cheques for more than a quarter billion taxpayer dollars for France-based game studio Ubisoft.