Canadians become more wary as Nexen shareholders approve CNOOC takeover

It seems that Canadians are becoming increasingly uneasy about the proposed China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) $15.1 billion takeover bid for Canadian oil producer Nexen Inc.

On the same day that Nexen shareholders approved the controversial deal, an Abacus Data survey was released suggesting that 69 per cent of us want the federal government to reject it. Remarkably, that's a 12 point increase from last month, when Abacus asked the same question.

"Opposition to the deal was uniform across most subgroups," notes the study's accompanying press release.

"There were few regional or partisan differences. In fact, respondents who said they voted Conservative in 2011 were almost as likely to say the deal should be rejected as those who voted Liberal or NDP (Conservative 68%, NDP 72%, Liberal 73%)."

[ Related: Nexen takeover proposal concerns Calgary charities ]

The state-owned CNOOC initiated the friendly takeover in August, indicating then that they wanted to keep the Nexen name and Calgary base as the headquarters of their North American operations.

While Nexen shareholders accepted the bid, the federal government still has to approve the deal pending an Investment Canada net benefit review. Prime Minister Harper has also said that China's state-run enterprise must show that it can be trusted to play by the same rules as Canadian companies.

Political analyst Gerry Nicholls says that this whole issue puts Harper and the Conservatives on the "horns of a dilemma."

"On the one hand, they want to encourage trade with China, but this sale will be a tough sell politically. Most importantly, it will be a tough sell even with the party's own base," he told Yahoo! Canada News, noting that the survey results don't surprise him.

"After all, the Conservative rank and file hate communists. And they expect the "right wing" Harper government to hate them too. They would be none too pleased with the prospect of a big Canadian energy company ending up in the hands of China's communist dictatorship.

[ Related: MPs criticize China's offer for Nexen ]

"If this were 1972, Prime Minister Harper would have no problem reaching a decision: he would tell the Chinese and their commie corporation to take a hike. But today, it's bad business to insult Reds who have wallets full of green."

According to the Globe and Mail, the government has 45 days to review the proposed deal — from the date of request in August — but can take a 30-day extension.

In other words, we could expect an answer about the "Reds" and their "green" by mid-November.