Canada approved China\u2019s biggest ever foreign takeover on Friday, a $15.1bn bid by state-controlled CNOOC Limited for energy company Nexen Incoporated, but drew a line in the sand against future buys by state-owned enterprises, Reuters<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n In a fierce defense of a tough, new foreign investment framework, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada would not deliver control of the oil sands \u2013 the world\u2019s third-largest proven reserves of crude \u2013 to a foreign government.<\/p>\n The ruling, anxiously awaited by investors and politicians alike, followed months of heated debate about how much of Canada\u2019s energy sector could and should be absorbed by companies run by other nations.<\/p>\n The bid triggered unusually open dissent among legislators in the ruling right-of-center Conservatives, many of whom were particularly nervous about the idea of allowing China to gain control of the oil sands.<\/p>\n Canada said yes to this deal, but will not do so next time.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be blunt, Canadians have not spent years reducing the ownership of sectors of the economy by our own governments, only to see them bought and controlled by foreign governments instead,\u201d Harper told reporters after Ottawa gave the deal the green light, along with approval for the less controversial takeover of gas company Progress Energy Resources Corp by another state-owned energy company, Petronas of Malaysia.<\/p>\n \u201cForeign state control of oil sands development has reached the point at which further such foreign state control would not be of net benefit to Canada,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n