Significant Developments In National Security Reviews Under The ICA

Two recent developments highlight the significance and rapidly changing nature of national security considerations in reviews under the Investment Canada Act (the ICA):

• In mid-June Industry Canada was reported to have blocked a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE), Beida Jade Bird, from building a $30 million fire alarm manufacturing facility in Saint-Bruno de Montarville, Quebec on national security grounds, due to the proximity of the proposed facility to a site operated by the Canadian Space Agency.
• Later in June Paladin Energy Ltd. (Paladin) of Australia obtained approval under the Non-Resident Ownership Policy of 1987 (NROP), as enforced under the ICA, to allow it to acquire a majority foreign ownership interest in the Michelin uranium mine in Labrador.