Shelby Espinosa and Ryan Beisty

International Business
16 April 2019
Canada Project

Goal: To establish political power within the country and to eventually monopolize the natural
resources, specifically petroleum and coal.

Why this Goal

● Being the second largest country in the world (based on area), Canada has an abundance
of untouched natural resources.
○ We believe it is smart to capitalize of the sheer amount of resources available in
the country and attempt to take control of them, as it will prove to be very
lucrative for us.
● Canada has the third largest amount of oil reserves in the world, the fifth largest
amount of coal, the seventh largest amount of iron ore and rank first in the
production and extraction of the mineral, potash.
● Due to this, we believe that this is the biggest opportunity for us to make the most money
within Canada. As of 2016, Canada also ranked fourth in the world for estimated
amount of natural resources, coming in at $33.2 trillion.
● The companies we will be targeting are, Canada’s largest oil company, Suncor Energy,
which is worth over $51 billion dollars and another major mining company, Teck
Resources, which is worth $14.19 billion. This is very appealing to us and the potential
for us to continue making money is large.
● While everybody is focused on the election and the issues being discussed there, we
believe we will be able to sneak in and take control of the companies that produce natural
resources, without the attention. We can stay behind the scenes and watch the money pile
up.
Overview of Canada
● Population: 37 million
● Currency: Canadian Dollar (CAD)
● GDP per capita: $45,032 (USD)
● Area: 3.8 million square miles
● Only 34% of population believe they will be better off 5 years from now
● As of 2017- only 43% of Canadians trust the government (10% decrease from previous
year)

Timeline of Events

The Plan in Detail: “The Perfect Candidates”

As multi-billionaires, our main strategy is to work behind the scenes, virtually unnoticed,
and allowing our puppets, or candidates, to do our dirty work. The outline below discusses our
plan along with a ranking of importance out of ‘10’ and a budget.

1. Suncor Energy and Teck Resources $60 Billion and $20 Billion, Total: $80 Billion
a. Canada’s largest oil company and one of the major mining companies,
respectively.
b. Acquiring these two companies would ensure that we own a large share of the
resource market
c. Suncor Energy is worth $51 Billion and Teck Resources is worth $14.19
billion, we intend to buy out both companies.
2. The Prime Minister Candidate- (10/10) $50 million for campaign, $50 million pay-off
to candidate, Total: $100 mil
a. All Canadian prime ministers are also members of parliament, and the Prime
Minister of Canada sits and votes in the House of Commons just like the other
members. As leader of parliament’s largest political party, however, he/she
maintains tight control over all members of his/her parliamentary caucus (party
members) and directs and oversees the entire parliamentary process, including
deciding which bills are introduced and which laws are passed.
b. Our groomed candidate will run in the 2023 election, as the next election
(October 2019) is too soon for our plans
c. Our candidate will run for the Conservative Party of Canada because we
believe the people voting within this party believe in traditional culture and values
and will be the easiest swayed by our propaganda. We also believe these voters
will give the most support to big business, such as Suncor Energy or Teck
Resources.
2. Senate Candidates (8/10) $15mil per candidate, Total: $795 million
a. Once our Prime Minister candidate is elected, he will appoint members of the
Senate. We will have him select 53 people (more than half of Senate).
b. The purpose of a senator is to consider and revise legislation, investigate national
issues, and provide the regions of Canada an equal voice in Parliament. With this
in mind, these Candidates will be paid a good amount of money to insure
legislation is revised in our favor, any potential investigations of what we are
doing are dismissed, and that the ‘equal voice in Parliament’ is equal as long
as it is in our favor.
3. House of Commons (7/10)$7mil per member, $3mil bonus if elected, Total: $700 mil-
$1 billion
a. The House of Commons is the elected assembly of the Parliament of Canada. Its
301 Members are elected by popular vote at least once every five years to sit in
the House of Commons.
b. Much like our Prime Minister candidate, we will have 100 House of Commons
members voted in from both the Liberal and the Conservative parties.
c. The prime minister and his Cabinet receive their authority through the confidence
of the House, so we want a good amount of members in the House of Commons
to be in our favor.
4. Supreme Court (10/10) $75 million, $15 mil bonus for every law passed/over-turned
in our favor. Total: $75-$150 mil
a. The Supreme Court of Canada is Canada’s final court of appeal. It serves
Canadians by deciding legal issues of public importance, thereby contributing to
the development of all branches of law applicable within Canada
 b. Judges are appointed by the Governor General of Canada on advice of the Prime
Minister. Our Prime Minister candidate would appoint a Supreme Court
Judge, a judge who would be paid by us and working with us.
c. Supreme Court Judges serve Canadians by deciding legal issues of public
importance, thereby contributing to the development of all branches of law
applicable within Canada. That being said, with a judge on the court in our
favor, we will be able to do what we want, whether legal or not, because the
judge will be in our corner.

How The Candidates Will Get Voted in:

1. Healthcare (7/10)
a. Healthcare will be apart of our campaign as an emotional issue
b. Our candidate will preach improving the healthcare system and healthcare over all
c. Currently, government health spending is growing at unsustainable rates,
while patients are facing shortages of medical resources and declining access
to necessary medical care. Only 38% of people report being able to see their
primary care provider the same day or next day when they call.
d. Our candidate will campaign on shorter wait times for people, better overall care
for patients, and more private options at no cost
e. Healthcare is considered a hot-button issue and we tend to seek out those who
have anger toward the current system
2. Anti-Russian Propaganda (7/10)
a. Our Prime Minister candidate will instill fear within the people during his
campaign
b. According to a 2017 Pew Global Attitudes survey, 59% of Canadians express
an unfavorable view of Russia and we intend to heighten that fear throughout
the campaign specifically by what could become of Canada if we let the Russians
invade our country comparing to the Donald Trump election and the United
States. Currently, 39% of Canadians have a favorable few of the U.S. since
Trump has been elected into power, meaning about 61% have an unfavorable
view and we will capitalized on this unfavorable response. We want to isolate
Canada and Canadians into thinking that Russia was ‘after’ the U.S. and
succeeded by electing Trump, and the same could happen to Canada and it will
because ‘we’re next.’ However, our candidate is the light at the end of the
tunnel, and the only person who can lead Canada away from the scary and
evil grasp of Russia.
c. Whoever the opposing candidate is against our chosen candidate will be pitted in
line with Russia through our help. Any negative comments the opposition says
will be spun in terms of Russia. For example, “he/she is only saying that because
of their allegiance with Russia,” “Russians are making up those lies about our
 candidate.” In other words, we will take any negativity against our candidate
and flip it that it is actually Russia’s involvement.
3. Control of the Media (10/10) $100 million to each news source, Total: $700-$900
million
a. Regardless of our control over actual members within the Canadian government,
it is still important that the common people of Canada do not catch on to our
house of cards. Likewise, we want stories printed in our favor about opposing
candidates during the election.
b. According to research, the top conservative news outlets in Canada include:
Toronto Sun, the National Post, both owned by the same company:
Postmedia.
c. We also want to make sure we control the liberal media as well, Montreal
Gazette, Canada’s Largest Daily, and Press Progress will be some of the news
outlets we will pay
d. Toronto Post is one of the biggest news post in Canada so we will also want to
have an in with them
e. We intend to give each of these news outlets an amount of money that they cannot
pass up. In exchange, we will ask them to have no journalists invest any of our
candidates, nor our business within the different resource industries. We will
ask them to write tarnishing stories on opposing candidates, however to keep
down suspicion, write small, meaningless ‘tarnishing’ stories about some of
our candidates.
f. The media will also ensure the people that the Russian fear is something real
and to be taken seriously. Likewise, the media will publish articles about the
healthcare system in dire need of changes and improvements. Both
strengthening our candidates’ platforms.

Plan Conclusion:
● The ultimate purpose of acquiring the companies and coming into power is so that we can
basically do as we please with them. Any rules we break or unethical methods we use in
the businesses will now be overlooked, as we have the power within Canada. This will
allow us to get things like tax breaks, laws passed that will benefit us and in general,
make it easier for us to continue to make money. Once we have established power we can
look to continue to take over other natural resource companies within Canada in order to
create a monopoly.

Total Plan Spending: about $82.945 Billion

Miscellaneous Expenses: $2 Billion
Total: $85 Billion after year one*
*Our budget is well under the 500 billion, however, we believe this is a very conservative
budget because we anticipate being sued, having to pay off more people or pay out more
money, and buying more corporations once we find success in year one.

Risks:
● Our candidate doesn’t get elected-- we can’t get the people behind our candidate
● One of the people we are paying to do our bidding speaks out against us
● Another country intervenes, specifically Russia or the United States
● The media doesn’t accept our bribe, then report on it.
● Other energy/mining companies are angered by us or catch on to what we are trying to do
● Being sued
● Having to pay off more people/having to pay out more

Questions:
● What can we spend the remaining money on?
● Is our budget practical?
● Is our manipulation and ‘fear factor’ enough to get the candidates we want elected?
● Will we be able to bribe all that are needing to be bribed?
● Are Canadians anti-Russian enough for our whole campaign to be based around this?
● Would we be able to outright buy two big energy companies?
● Is there a better/easier way to take over the companies?
● Once we are in power is there anybody who could overthrow us?
● Would we need an alliance with another country?
● Would it be smart to live in Canada while doing this or should we live elsewhere?
● Is it a good idea to bribe the media?
○ What would be a better way to control the media instead?
○ How do countries such as Russia, control the media?

What We Learned From Class Presentations and Feedback

From the presentations in class from all the different groups, we learned a lot of insights on what
we would do differently with our project if we were to do it again.
1. 500 Billion dollars is a lot of money, and we didn’t come close to spending a good
amount of it. Not spending this money is just money lost, in a sense. Because we are
going to be making money with our plan, why not invest close to all the money.
2. Bribes may not always work, especially to the media. The Media prides itself on
uncovering the truth and calling people out. It may be in our best interest to just buy out
the media and own it, instead of bribing. That goes for bribing others, too. This would put
us in a place to rely on others not to talk.
3. Instead of focusing on just two different resource companies, we should just buy them all.
We have the money for it, and we might as well just monopolize all of it.
4. Other groups seemed to have done extensive research with facts and figures to back their
ideas. While we do think we did do a significant amount of research, we probably should
have prioritized and dug deeper on the research.
5. What we learned: Overall, this project helped us grow a deeper understanding of a
typical country structure and how systems are set up. It also helped us explore the ‘harsh
reality’ of how business may work. While we aren’t sure if our plan would even be
possible, we gained practical knowledge of political systems, business ventures and take-
overs, and even how relationships between countries work