OTTAWA – New Democrat MP Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre) is calling on the government to tighten the rules on foreign takeovers of Canada’s high-tech companies, guarantee pension protection for high-tech workers and provide direct stimulus to the high-tech industry.

Dewar wrote a letter to the Minister of Industry in the wake of Nortel’s announcement of falling revenues in all its business segments. He echoed the concerns in the community for potential job losses and the sale of Nortel Networks. He also raised his concerns regarding the hallowing out of high-tech industry in Canada as Tundra Semiconductor is sold off to California-based Integrated Device Technology Inc.

“After years of taxpayer support for companies like Nortel Networks, the government should not stand by as the company takes unfair measures against its workers and contemplates selling its assets and sending jobs out of Canada” wrote Dewar.

Dewar compared the sale of high-tech companies to the proposed sale of MDA’s RADARSAT2 which was blocked by the federal government due to threats it posed to Canada. Even though Nortel Networks, like the MDA, has received major public financing, high threshold for reviewing foreign take-overs of Canadian companies means that the potential sale of Nortel Networks can go through with no accountability to Canadians.

“Rather than increasing the threshold for review of foreign takeovers, government should take measures to protect the investments of Canadian taxpayers in these difficult economic times” concluded Dewar. “The government must also address the failure of the previous budget in providing direct stimulus for the ailing high-tech industry in Canada”.