OTTAWA - A large majority of Canadians are concerned about foreign takeovers of Canadian firms and want the government to take action, a poll suggests.
The Canadian Press/Decima poll found that only 20 per cent of those surveyed favoured a "laissez-faire'' approach to what has been described as the hollowing out of corporate Canada.
A whopping 72 per cent said they want the government to do more to limit takeovers.
Decima president Bruce Anderson said the response in support of government intervention cuts across political preferences. Among Conservative voters, 66 per cent said they would like to see government action on the issue.
In other findings, 66 per cent of respondents said they believe that the number of Canadian firms being bought out by foreign interests has been increasing, and of those, 71 per cent considered the development a bad thing.
The survey of just over 1,000 respondents was conducted between Aug. 30 and Sept. 2 and is considered accurate plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
