Canadian Government Letting "Events Play Out" Before Deciding on BlackBerry Sale

Tony Clement

One of the big question marks in a BlackBerry sale is if the Canadian government will allow an international sale to go through. This is especially the case with companies like SAP, Intel, Google, Cisco, LG, Samsung, and others sniffing around the Fairfax bid. The latest update comes from Treasury Board President Tony Clement who told the Globe & Mail that “Ottawa’s position for now is to let events play out.” He went on to say that:

“What we want is obviously a stable environment,” he said, when asked if the government wants BlackBerry to remain Canadian-owned. “I think that we’ll let the marketplace respond. We have a role to play obviously, which involves national security and making sure that what occurs is in the public interest and we take that responsibility seriously. It’s not my place here to speculate on what would or would not be inside or offside that. So we’ll let it play out in the marketplace and if and when the government has to respond, we certainly will.”

Clement went on to say that he is hopeful that BlackBerry will get through this restructuring and they have tens of millions of customers. He said: “They’ve had success in the past and we’re all very hopeful that they will get through to the other side of what is going to be obviously a restructuring of their mission and of their product, whatever happens.”

Photo Credit CTVNews

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