The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition what a difference a few years makes. Guest columnist Howard Green writes recall the days when there was a fuss about foreigners wanting to buy our miners and oil companies. Sure, Spain's Repsol played vulture when it scooped up Talisman last month, but it was welcomed rather than turned into a federal case. The national harrumphing that went on back in 2006 and 2007 when Inco, Falconbridge and Alcan were sold to outsiders is amazing in retrospect. The truth is, Inco's Scott Hand, and Alcan's Dick Evans got absolutely brilliant prices for their shareholders when they sold their respective companies. Recall the whining that went on about China's state-owned CNOOC making a $15-billion bid for Nexen. If you are holding a bunch of wobbly oil stocks today, maybe you wish the Chinese had been allowed to come in and buy everything in the patch. Not just energy stocks: It might have been nice for Barrick shareholders if three years ago a big sovereign wealth fund had come galumphing into Canada and bid for the gold miner when it was over $50 a share. Given that Barrick shares are in the low teens, it could have spared a lot of stockholders a lot of grief.