Norman Keevil, head of the legendary family that created and technically controls Teck through a dual-class share regime, has turned the company into a national political symbol. “We are not about to be swallowed up by them,” he said when Glencore announced its bid in early April. “It’s not a matter of price. Canada is not for sale.”
The case against Glencore’s plan, as waged over the past month, rests mostly on arguments grounded in net-zero rhetoric, ESG claims and the new Canadian fixation on the need to maintain national political control over resources. Mine production and resources — copper, zinc — that used to be called minerals are now labelled “critical minerals.”
The Trudeau Liberal cabinet responded, with comments from Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and an unusualsigned by Freeland, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne. The ministerial trio described Teck as “Canada’s largest diversified mining company, with assets of central importance to our country as we expand our critical minerals value chain and build a clean economy.
The other side of the Teck control battle is the company’s coal operation, with various factions rattling cages over whether the company’s Canadian metallurgical coal, used to make steel, can be safely sold to a foreign company such as Glencore, which is a world leader in the product of thermal coal used to produce energy. Being owned by Glencore, it is alleged, would contaminate the image of the Teck coal operation in British Columbia.