The Shining Example of the Canadian Banks
If you ask people around the world, who best survived the 2008 economic meltdown, the universal answer is the Canadian banks. They remained solid, financially stable, and essentially protected the Canadian economy. This should be a lesson to the Canadian government. All the foreign companies pulled back their horns when the crisis hit, and abandoned Canada. They protected their own home country. Only the Canadian grown and owned companies helped Canada.
In spite of all the faults of the Canadian banks, they are Canadian, and when economic ruin faced the world, our few remaining industries stood tall.
All the companies that were taken over by foreigners drew in their horns; they all abandoned their promises given when their particular takeover was done. Their primary interest was their home country.
How the Rest of the World Considers its Essential Industries
Every country has its major corporations that are protected from foreigners and are considered untouchable – except Canada.
Look at France. Look at the USA. Look at China. Look at the UK. There are no exceptions, except Canada. Canada lets its assets disappear, and their new owners’ only concern about Canada is how to extract more money.
The TSX Withstood the Challenges of the World Competition
The TSE became aggressive with new management over the last decade. At the same time as the listings on the exchange were being hollowed out by foreign takeovers and de-listings, the TSE focused on what assets remained in Canada.
The TSE Eliminated All Canadian Competition
Because there was no other place for small mining and resource companies to raise money, certainly not from the banks, a small industry grew up. At first it was Vancouver based and was fraught with questionable tactics.
But as it matured, it developed into a real market where investors could take a chance on investing in small companies. In due course, it became more successful and was bought by the TSE (now the TSX) along with the Winnipeg market. It became more regulated and became a real market.
Then the TSX bought the Montreal Stock Exchange which was primarily based on Canadian derivatives.
Aside from a fledgling tiny QNX market that has gained little traction, the TSX controls all of the exchanges in Canada. It is this control of every market in Canada that is being sold to foreigners.
A Commodities Market
To the credit of the TSX, all of these exchanges became more regulated and more respectable.
Today, Canada is known as “The Place to List”. Regularly companies come to Canada to list here; they establish their head office here; they hire their geos here; they hire their administrative staff here; and most of all, they continually increase the volume and prestige of the TSX, and of the Canadian economy.
Today Canada is known worldwide as The Place to List if you are a commodity stock. No other exchange anywhere has the ability to raise money for exploration and commodities in any way even close to the ability of the Canadian exchanges.
Now this gem, like so many other gems in the recent past, is being sold to foreigners.
A Merger of Equals? Not on Your Life – it is a blatant takeover of our most important industry.
The intention of the LSE is to buy what they couldn’t create. The LSE is a powerful market, but it is very expensive to list there, and most investors are institutions, not retail investors. Toronto is by far the world capital for retail investors buying stocks.
That is the prize here. Because almost every resource company worldwide now considers Toronto as a logical place to list because of its retail investor base, the LSE can’t match this, so they are buying it by this so-called merger.
If you take the time to read the proposed merger agreement, it is clear that the intention is a migration over the next four years of companies from the TSX to the LSE.
After the fourth anniversary of the undertakings given as part of the proposed merger, the number of Canadian directors can fall to whichever is greater: Three or whatever the board determines is appropriate “in light of the overall current and prospective significance of the Canadian business to the Holdco Group business as a whole.”
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that in four years, all control will pass to the London directors, and Toronto will whither away.
DON”T LET THIS HAPPEN !
