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A cup of Tim Hortons coffee is pictured at a Burger King restaurant in Toronto on Monday August 25, 2014.Chris Young/The Globe and Mail

There was only one surprise in the announcement from federal Industry Minister James Moore that he was approving the $12.5-billion takeover of Tim Hortons Inc. by Burger King Worldwide Inc.

Most of the commitments made by Burger King to satisfy the "net benefit" requirement for a corporate takeover of this size under the Investment Canada Act had been telegraphed well in advance, back in August when the deal was announced.

The pledges were clearly meant to mollify any populist concern over a foreign fast food outfit's takeover of the beloved doughnut chain (not for the first time – it was once owned by U.S.-based Wendy's) and to alleviate real concerns over potential job losses.

But one promise stood out. According to Mr. Moore's statement, the company pledged "to expand Tim Hortons by opening new restaurants, both in the United States and globally, at a significantly greater pace than currently planned." It suggests that Burger King decided to present an even more aggressive timetable to bring Tim Hortons double-doubles to the U.S. and the rest of the world, in order to please Ottawa.

Subrata Bhattacharjee, a competition lawyer with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Toronto, says this pledge shows just how vague the "net benefit" test can be, in that it allows for such a "commercially intrusive" promise. Other companies looking to snap up Canadian icons will take note, he said.

"If you have a [takeover target] business that is high-profile, even if it is not really sensitive, and you've got the reality of an election coming up, it's amazing how malleable that net benefit test can be to try to protect those political objectives," Mr. Bhattacharjee said.

Whether Burger King actually succeeds in spreading Tim Hortons' quintessentially Canadian brand – mild, inoffensive coffee and baked goods – to the U.S., where it has so far failed to catch on, and then to the rest of the world, is another matter altogether.

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