Adam Waterous, executive chair of Calgary oil producer Strathcona Resources, told The Globe and Mail that any government-backed investments through First Nations communities “would be a direct subsidy to the private-sector partner.” Waterous, whose company made a $5.9-billion hostile takeover bid for MEG Energy in May, was responding to a Bloomberg report that Cenovus Energy is readying its own MEG takeover proposal alongside a group of First Nations and Métis communities.

(The Globe and Mail)

Talking point: Strathcona’s argument presents a seldom-discussed consequence of government efforts to support First Nations’ involvement in major energy projects. Ottawa’s $10 billion in government-backed loans for Indigenous communities are meant to help First Nations communities secure stakes in big infrastructure projects, but could also distort private-market valuations, according to Waterous. Cenovus, alongside the Chipewyan Prairie First Nation, Heart Lake First Nation and others, would take a $2-billion stake in MEG under its proposal, according to Bloomberg.