Fertilizer may not be glamorous, but with a growing world population and a burgeoning Chinese middle class, it is a hot commodity.

Canada is the world’s number one fertilizer producer. Most of it comes from Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. The homegrown multinational — Canada’s sixth largest company — is suddenly attracting global attention. It is likely to be snapped up by a foreign giant.

This week the bidding war began. BHP Billiton of Australia made a $38.6 billion (U.S.) unsolicited offer for the Saskatoon-based firm. Market watchers expect the Chinese, Brazilians, British and Russians to jump into the fray.

Industry Minister Tony Clement, who has the power to block foreign takeovers, is watching from the sidelines until a deal is reached. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is confident he can keep the company’s head office in the province. The United Steelworkers, which represents most of the workforce, isn’t sounding the alarm.

Why, then, should Canadians care if PotashCorp falls into foreign hands? There are three reasons:

Foreign companies that acquire Canadian firms don’t always keep their commitments. When U.S. Steel bought Stelco three years ago, it pledged to maintain production in Canada, then shut down all of the company’s Canadian operations. When Vale SA acquired Inco in 2006, it promised to maintain employment levels for three years, then laid off 423 workers.

Foreign conglomerates tend to apply global wage standards, forcing down pay levels in Canada.

The effects of a foreign takeover spill over onto a company’s suppliers, customers, competitors and the wider community.

All three are germane to the PotashCorp case. But it not clear-cut.

The company is no longer Canadian-run. It was, in its early days as a Crown corporation. But since it was privatized in 1989, American managers have taken charge. The current CEO, Bill Doyle, is a Chicago chemical engineer.

There would be no significant loss of innovative capacity if PotashCorp were sold. It is basically a resource extraction firm.

A new owner cannot easily move production elsewhere. PotashCorp sits atop a massive reserve of potassium and phosphorous, the two key ingredients of fertilizer.

It would be short-sighted to demand that Clement slam on the brakes. An influx of foreign capital would allow the company to expand, creating more jobs.

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But the government must enforce the conditions it sets to ensure the takeover is of “net benefit” to the country. That means keeping production and jobs in Canada, employing Canadian managers, and requiring the new owner to contribute to the community where it does business.

So far, Ottawa’s record has been dismal. That is the first thing that needs fixing.