The M&A market in Canada has been extremely active over the past year. Most of the M&A transactions during the first half of 2005 were negotiated, but this was followed by a surge in unsolicited bid activity, particularly so in the past six months. While the buoyancy in the global resource markets and Canada's strength in that area are factors in the growth in M&A, the activity has not been confined to the resource sector. There has also been diversity in the nationalities of the bidders for Canadian targets.