Finance Committee on Oct. 7th, 2009

[Ross Gaudreault]

The Port of Vancouver.

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

There has been a lot of investment in the Port of Vancouver. I think Mr. Wallace talked about that two weeks ago, when we were in Vancouver.

[Ross Gaudreault]

That is why I am not shy to ask you for money this morning.

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

It is important that Quebec makes these requests. We have nothing against the fact that Vancouver is very well served. We are talking about an important network open to Asia. Nonetheless, I think that the Port of Quebec is just as important. We fully support you on that. This obviously involves the whole issue of environmental standards that have to be met.

[Ross Gaudreault]

We will certainly not do anything without respecting Canada's environmental laws.

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you Mr. Laforest.

Ms. Block, please.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all of our presenters this morning. Your presentations were very informative in terms of the organizations you represent and the issues you are facing.

My questions are for the pork industry working group. I come from Saskatchewan, and those issues are huge in our province.

As I'm sure you're aware--in fact, the timing of your submission preceded this announcement by our government--on August 15 we delivered a comprehensive restructuring plan, which included an international pork marketing fund of $17 million for eligible market research, as well as long-term loans with government-backed credit, and finally the hog farm transition program.

I'm wondering, first, if you can provide comments on that, and then provide some comments on our government's announcement today--namely, that we are launching a World Trade Organization dispute settlement process over U.S. mandatory country-of-origin labelling. Today the Honourable Stockwell Day and the Minister of Agriculture announced their request for a WTO panel. Perhaps you could comment on that.

Finally, I'd like to hear more about your first recommendation to provide an organization of stakeholders with financial assistance. Who would that organization be, and how much are you looking for?

[Bernard Verret]

Thank you.

First of all, I will answer the second question first: the news of the day. If the federal government has launched some actions against the American way of dealing in the pork industry, it is extremely welcomed, because this COOL in the U.S. has disturbed the trade in Canada, has put the provinces one against each other because of the trade of piglets from Ontario—Manitoba has dumped into Ontario, Ontario has dumped into Quebec—and has created a lot of structural problems. This kind of dealing by the U.S. industry is unacceptable, and to be active with this kind of action is very supportive for the Canadian pig industry as a whole.

Second, the announcement of the long-term loan is good news. It is a point that a loan is still a loan. You need to reimburse the loan. It means that we add some cost to the pig producer in the long term. It's helping, but it is just to bring some blood to a patient who could be sick, and it's not successful survival. We need to have more than just a loan. A loan is like a plaster; it is like a band-aid on a problem. We need to do more than that. It means that we need to act on the way the pig industry is structured. The loan is welcomed because it will give us time to reorganize and refocus and to compete with the Americans.

The $17 million to expand exportation is also welcomed, because it is the right way to go. We need to create new markets. We need to export, to find new opportunity for export, because in the past, around 10 years ago, our main customer was the U.S. and now our main competitor is the U.S. We need to find new markets. We need to develop new places. We need to open China properly. We need to open Russia. We need to open Ukraine.

Third, who will be the organization...as the provincial government is involved in financing and they have their own budget to control, their own deficit to control? You know, the provinces have ad hoc support, as in Saskatchewan. The government will act with ad hoc programs. We need to have a neutral organization--not a lot of money, we speak of something in the hundred thousands of dollars--to have an independent study to create the leadership to identify clearly where the solutions are for the pig industry in Canada.

The solutions are not the same all across Canada. The pig industry is very different in the east, and it's different from province to province. That is why this paper was quite nice, because it makes sense for everybody. But solutions are not the same for every part of Canada.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Block.

We'll go to Mr. Pacetti.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Has Mr. Lecours' report been handed out?

[Jean Lecours]

It was handed out to those who attended the meeting.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Is it a public document?

[Jean Lecours]

I have no objection whatsoever.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

We would appreciate you providing it to the clerk, if possible.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Are you giving them your time?

Mr. Dechert, please.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Thank you Mr. Chair.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your presentations.

I have a question for Mr. Grégoire.

I very much appreciated your presentation. I believe education is key to our future prosperity, and I certainly agree with your analysis of the devastation caused by the cuts that were made to the Canada social transfer by the former Liberal government.

You've asked the government to restore that funding in the amount of $3.5 billion. First, I'm sure you know that the government made a significant investment in colleges and universities this year through the knowledge infrastructure program. I hope your university received some of that funding and it's helpful.

We have also made new investments of $87.5 million in graduate scholarships, $48 million for research partnerships in community colleges across Canada, $15 million for quantum computing, and several other programs of that sort. So I hope we're addressing the needs across Canada.

With respect to the $3.5 billion that you're requesting though, do you think it's a good idea simply to provide it to the provinces and let them decide how to spend it in education, or would you suggest that the government mandate how the funds are to be used?

For example, I note that there is a good news report today, a prediction that Canada's information technology industry will create 84,000 highly skilled jobs in the next four years. Should we be directing funds towards certain types of study or industry, or should we simply allow the provinces to make their own determinations on how it should be spent?

[Jean Grégoire]

We would still prefer that the provinces have full control of everything to do with education and, accordingly, the funding. We would be in favour of direct transfers to the provinces and allowing the provinces to decide how to use the funding. This funding should not come with strings attached when it comes to education in general or for the granting agencies. What is more, the granting agencies have recently encountered problems in terms of funding.

However, we commend the fact that investments have been made in post-secondary institutions. This allows us to have better laboratories and facilities. Nonetheless, better facilities without students will not solve the education problem.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

When you travel to places like China, which I just did with a parliamentary committee, you see how quickly they're developing their university system. They have a command economy, of course, and they can decide where they want to place the emphasis in their investing, but they have made very strategic investments in computing and telecommunications education, for example.

If we're to continue to have a competitive edge in Canada over other places in the world where we can't compete simply on wage issues alone, shouldn't the federal government have some kind of national strategy to promote certain kinds of industries and certain kinds of research that will give Canadian students an edge so that they can find jobs in the future, building industries in Canada that can compete better against other jurisdictions in the world?

[Jean Grégoire]

To us, granting funding with strings attached is like telling the universities exactly what they have to develop. We do not believe that this will allow the universities to foster competitive knowledge on the world stage. Knowledge requires certain autonomy. We know that the government has granting agencies that fund certain areas of research. We think that is great. However, these agencies lack funding and we should not be telling them what to do. They should make their own choices. They have well-established boards of directors, even though there are not enough students on those boards. They are well established and able to make choices on research. It is not up to the government to decide on the research or to give directives on investments. The government should instead give universities the chance to conduct their research and develop new knowledge.

[Lysiane Boucher, Coordinator, Federal and International Affairs, Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec]

If I may intervene, I would like to add a few words to that response. You talked about a Canadian strategy. It is certainly interesting to see a bit of what goes on elsewhere. However, the provinces all have their own motives. Quebec's motives, for example, are accessibility and quality of teaching. We are certainly very interested in announcing that to the other provinces and seeing how we can work together to help ourselves become competitive on the world stage. However, we believe that each province should be able to invest its money itself. The same goes for the granting agencies when it comes to research. Granting funding with strings attached causes a lot of problems, as Mr. Grégoire pointed out. However, a Canada-wide consultation could be interesting, without imposing limits at the government.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you, Mr. Dechert.

Thank you everyone.

Thank you very much for your answers to our questions and for your presentations.

The meeting stands adjourned.