Source: The Canadian Press

Industry Minister Tony Clement says he’ll take a close look at the possible merger of Canada’s biggest stock market with its British counterpart, but it’s still too early to tell if it needs an official review to determine whether it’s good for Canada.

The London Stock Exchange wants to take over the Toronto Stock Exchange in what the two companies are billing as a merger of equals that would create a combined company worth about $6 billion.

But that has triggered concerns once again that control of a company vital to Canada’s economic well being could fall into foreign hands.

The “hollowing-out” of corporate Canada was a hot issue last year when Clement stopped the takeover of fertilizer company PotashCorp (TSX:POT) by Anglo-American mining giant BHP Billiton.

Clement says officials will consider all of the factors that apply in this case to determine whether the deal needs a review to see if it’s of net benefit to Canada — which is usually triggered whenever a foreign buyer tries to take over a Canadian company worth more than $312 million.

Thomas Kloet, head of TMX Group (TSX:X), which owns the Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges says a combined TSX-LSE would still be well-policed by Canadian authorities and he believes it would indeed be of net benefit to Canada.