By Kevin A. Wong

No nursing home wants to be known for uncertainty and intrigue.

So a Canadian retirement home chain found itself in an uncomfortable position last year when it agreed to be bought by a politically connected Chinese company with a shadowy group of owners. Regulators approved the deal even though the buyer was under regulatory scrutiny in the United States.

Recently, the chairman of the Chinese buyer, Anbang Insurance Group, is being held by the Chinese police for undisclosed reasons—and critics say the deal represents the latest example of Canada’s troublingly lax attitude toward Chinese money flooding into the country.

“When the Anbang house of cards finally collapses, who will gain control of these senior care facilities in BC?” Mark R. Strahl, a lawmaker with Canada’s opposition Conservative Party, asked at a parliamentary session last month, referring to the province of British Columbia. “Are seniors about to find out that their landlord is actually the People’s Republic of China?”

Canada, like the United States and other countries, is grappling with how to handle billions of dollars of Chinese purchases on its home turf. Recent purchases have included big oil companies, swank office buildings and cutting-edge tech firms. That last set, in particular, has raised objections in the United States as well as Canada from those worried that they could give China access to sensitive technologies.

“There’s an emerging pattern here of being naïve with regard to China, and lax with regard to national security,” said Michael Byers, a Canada Research Chair at the University of British Columbia.

Economically, China and Canada have grown close. The value of Chinese direct investment in Canada increased nearly fivefold between 2007 and 2015. Chinese buyers have struck nearly $43 billion in Canadian deals over the last seven years, according to Dealogic, a data provider.

But that closeness has caused tensions. Many Canadians blame Chinese money for soaring home prices in places like Vancouver, and perceive a softening of Canadian positions on topics like human rights. Last year at a news conference, China’s foreign minister rebuked a Canadian journalist for asking a question about human rights while Stéphane Dion, then Canada’s foreign minister, stood silently by.

While US officials have rejected a growing number of Chinese deals, rejections in Canada are rare. Its takeover panel has rejected only two deals since 1985, while more than 1,700 transactions have been approved.

© 2017 New York Times News Service