…But just in case, I’m going to ensure that I avoid, at any reasonable cost, investing much of our money in any Canadian company, for fear that a bunch of controlling, progressive know-it-alls in and out of government try, once again, to control my property.
Headline in Financial Post ahead of the official announcement: Investment Canada gives Potash takeover tentative nod
Here in Canada, the progressives hate freedom and free markets. They want to control who can sell what private property (which in this case includes not mineral rights or resources, as alarmists on the left pretend, but merely shares in a company), and to whom I sell my property.
It’s hard enough to get a good return on investments these days without a government and progressives sapping value out of my investment, 
damaging my income and retirement plans. The investment risk as a result of government meddling and control and regulation is proving too high in Canada. On the other hand, our banks — and union pension plans like the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and others — have been taking over businesses including whole banking operations in the U.S. for years, and that has proven an excellent investment, which nobody here has said boo about. Weird, huh? Yes it is. Progressives and protectionism and meddling in and controlling the free market are all weird.
I simply can’t understand why any company, including BHP Billiton or the current owners of Potash — predominantly AMERICANS — would ever risk investing in Canada. Similarly, I don’t recommend investing in Venezuela or Iran. You never know when the government is going to rear its ugly head and forbid a sale of your stake, take it over themselves, or control it and regulate it and tax it to the extent that they might as well take it over; effectively ruining the investment.
Of course “the right bidder” — the only “appropriate” owner in the minds of all big-government-loving progressives like the Liberal party’s Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton’s you’ve got to be kidding party — is often “the government” itself, as we know. Or another Canadian bidder like a union pension fund. Even if their bid is half what the foreign bid is.
To them, the free market is bad unless it works for them, personally.
Tea time.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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