Task Force on Foreign Ownership and the Structure of Canadian Investment

Foreign Ownership and the Structure of Canadian Investment, Task Force on

In 1967 the Liberal government under Prime Minister Lester Pearson was prodded by Walter GORDON into appointing a TASK FORCE on foreign ownership. There were 8 economists on the task force and the chairman was Mel Watkins. The Watkins Report (1968) documented the costs and benefits to Canadians of the high level of foreign ownership of the Canadian ECONOMY. Comprehensive recommendations included the setting up of a development corporation to facilitate Canadian ownership and an agency to co-ordinate policies with respect to multinational enterprise. The task force shifted the debate on foreign ownership toward more interventionist policy, leading, in due course, to the creation of the CANADA DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION and the FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW AGENCY.

See also FOREIGN INVESTMENT; FOREIGN OWNERSHIP, TASK FORCE ON.