Minister vows to scrutinize Anbang deal

The Globe and Mail interviewed James Brander, a UBC Sauder School of Business professor, after a Beijing-based insurer with a questionable ownership structure is looking for approval to buy a majority stake in one of B.C.’s largest retirement home chains.

Brander said Canada has ensured that provinces and territories can protect some sectors from free-trade rules in cases where they have a dominant interest, such as in health care.

“But from the general perspective in the economics community, there is no reason to exempt this aspect of health care,” Brander said. “This is not the acute-care sector, this is a for-profit part of the health-care system … It’s just foreign money helping to support the delivery of an important sector of the system.”