The government of Canada has publicly stated that foreign ownership review legislation shall apply to PetroChina’s bid to buy Canadian oil sands assets, but will not introduce further barriers to investing in the country.  Current regulations call for an automatic review of any foreign purchase of Canadian assets worth more than C$312 million.  However, the laws also allow the government to block any investment that would adversely affect national security.  The fact that the Government has publicly committed to not adopting any special legislative measures on this issue, is a reassuring sign to the larger business community.

Canada foreign ownership laws to apply to PetroChina bid