Leader-Post: Harper planned to approve BHP deal until political risks grew too great

[tuvor]

If one is to better understand the politics behind the scenes of BHP Billiton's attempted takeover of PotashCorp one needs to understand two critical elements:

- No one other than Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the inner circle of the federal Conservatives knew the morning of Industry Minister Tony Clement's announcement that Ottawa would reject the deal, largely because Ottawa had planned to approve the deal until the waning hours and days before that Nov. 3 announcement.

For all the post-announcement spin over the pivotal role played by Saskatchewan's 13 Tory MPs, those MPs had no idea the deal was being rejected. (Although, as it turns out, the 13 did play an important, indirect role in one of the two reasons for Ottawa changing its mind. More on this in a moment.)

Equally taken by surprise that day was Premier Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party government. It had been told, according to sources, that there was simply no way the federal Industry Ministry would reject the takeover proposal.

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http://www.leaderpost.com/technology/Harper+planned+approve+deal+until+political+risks+grew+great/3972430/story.html