Compas Poll / Survey

The COMPAS panel of CEOs and business leaders was asked if global protectionism was on the rise in the wake of the Canadian government’s prohibition on the sale of a Canadian aerospace firm and New Zealand’s blocking of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s $1.8 billion partial takeover bid for Auckland International Airport. Panelists are not entirely sure it’s on the rise.

As for their judgments, they tend to support the Canadian decision and not the New Zealand one.

With regards to future Canadian protectionism, they favour tougher regulations in respect of ownership of resources and energy, possibly softer rules in respect of ownership of financial institutions. Across the board, they favour tougher protectionism when the suitor is a foreign government enterprise. Panelists’ own protectionist sentiments may be on the rise in some cases when tracking data are compared.

These are the key findings from this past week’s Internet survey of CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS panel. The weekly business survey is undertaken for Canadian Business magazine under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP.