Reforming the Investment Canada Act: Walk More Softly, Carry a Bigger Stick

Ottawa should transform the Investment Canada Act to create a broader, more transparent foreign investment review regime to encourage investment inflows while protecting Canadian national interests, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.  In "Reforming the Investment Canada Act: Walk More Softly, Carry a Bigger Stick," authors Philippe Bergevin and Daniel Schwanen say that Canada should scrap the "net benefit test" that now restricts inbound foreign investment. The authors argue that such an overhaul could help reverse Canada's declining share of global foreign direct investment, and bring Canada in line with its more open peers.