An extension of the Chinese government is buying part of a Canadian mountain

by Dramelin 9:00 PM 0 comments

The Shanghai-based China Minsheng Investment Group (CMIG) isn`t buying the entire mountain of course, but the sale of the ski operation by the Canadian McLaughlin family does include 500 hectares of privately owned land.
CMIG`s pending purchase was revealed by the Globe and Mail last week.
More from the South China Morning Post:How`s the owner of Tai United linked to Xi Jinping`s right hand man? Vancouver`s Mayor Gregor Robertson splits with pop star Wanting QuIs Beijing blocking WhatsApp in mainland China? Reports on Tuesday said CMIG was a 40 per cent stakeholder in the newly formed buyer, GM Resorts Limited Partnership.
The CBC quoted a CMIG spokesman as saying it would be a "silent investor".
The total asking price was C$200 million (US$159 million) – well below the threshold for federal foreign investment review - but the symbolic significance is obvious.
With its ski slopes floodlit at night, Grouse is like a north star when viewed from below, a literal guiding light that can be seen from just about anywhere in Vancouver.
From up top, the ski slopes and hiking trails boast incredible views of the city and sea.
Grouse Mountain isn`t world-famous like nearby Whistler - but it is Vancouver`s mountain.
Whistler, too, recently ended up in foreign hands, when US-based Vail Resorts bought Whistler Blackcomb Holdings for C$1.
4 billion last October.
So is this just the way of the world? Is the sale of Grouse to simply a more-modest version of the Whistler-Vail deal? This way of thinking betrays a polite kind of Canadian naivete that verges on the quaint.
I`m not suggesting outrage is justified.
Nor is the purchase demonstrably nefarious.
However, even a cursory examination of what CMIG is all about suggests the Grouse deal is quite a different proposition to Whistler`s sale, regardless of the "silent investor" protestation.