Canada’s CEOs and business leaders favour a loosening of foreign ownership restrictions in telecommunications, airlines, financial institutions, and other sectors. The one notable exception is farmland, where as many business leaders favour a tightening as a loosening of restrictions.

Business leaders’ support for ownership liberalization is not unconditional. In the case of telecommunications, they still favour a restriction that keeps majority ownership in Canadians’ hands.

The key drivers of business leaders’ continuing support for some restrictions are a desire not to lose strong companies before they reach global scale and not to lose important career opportunities. A fear of a loss of political sovereignty ranks low among the concerns propelling residual support for some ownership restrictions.

These are the key findings from the current web-survey of CEOs and other business leaders conducted by COMPAS on behalf of the National Post under sponsorship of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

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