Politicians Still Missing the Point About Nortel

It’s really interesting to see the growing amount of political huffing and puffing surrounding the demise of Nortel (NRTLQ.PK). The closer Nortel gets to extinction, the more enthusiastic that politicians get about proclaiming about how things could have been different if only better decisions had been made.

The latest example is federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, who suggests he would change foreign investment rules to protect “flagship” Canadian companies such as Nortel, and how Prime Minister Stephen Harper “dropped the ball” when the government didn’t review Ericsson (ERIC) purchase of Nortel’s CDMA business and LTE R&D unit.

If Ignatieff wanted to rail against the Conversative government, he probably should have stayed away from using Nortel as an example.

First, Nortel didn’t need protection from foreign investors; it needed protection from the foreign executives who helped drive it into the ground over the past five years.

Second, the federal government made the right decision when it decided not to review the Ericsson’s deal. The CDMA business was not of “national interest” so it made little sense to review it.

Source: Bloomberg