NDP demand changes to foreign investment law

The NDP want the House of Commons to spend Thursday debating a motion on foreign buyers and the Investment Canada Act in the wake of two plant closures, party leader Nycole Turmel told Evan Solomon, host of CBC's Power & Politics.

Thursday is one of the party's allotted supply days, where they decide what issue is debated.

The party is going to table a non-binding motion calling for the House to condemn the decision by Caterpillar to close its Electro-Motive Diesel plant in London, Ont., and by Papiers White Birch to close its Quebec City plant,

The two closures together mean 1,050 jobs were lost, the motion says.

The motion, put forward by London MP Irene Mathyssen, also calls on the government to table amendments to the Investment Canada Act to "ensure that foreign buyers are held to public and enforceable commitments on the 'net benefit' to Canada and on the protection of Canadian jobs."

The act says foreign takeovers over a certain value must be of "net benefit" to Canada but doesn't define what "net benefit" means.