Evidence of meeting #27 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:55 p.m.
Researcher, REAL Women of Canada
Our position in terms of funding organizations--and the aboriginal groups get millions of dollars in funding--is that we recommend the government monitor results. Is this leading to an improvement or is this worsening the situation? Because there's very little monitoring--
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Brison Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Do you think it would worsen the situation? Do you not consider them to be real women? When your organization also says on its website that you support traditional family values, what would you consider a same-sex couple, say, a lesbian couple who had children? Would you consider that to be a family worthy of support and those women worthy of support?
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
We're out of time so that's going to be the last question.
Ms. Watts, we'll allow you to answer that.
November 3rd, 2011 / 12:55 p.m.
Researcher, REAL Women of Canada
We believe that funding should be given fairly. But we do recognize the uniqueness of the traditional family.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Mr. Chair, I'm not sure exactly what his question in relation to a same-sex couple has to do with what we're discussing here today. I'm not really sure, and maybe he could clarify his just asking her opinion in relation to family values.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Okay. I'm just going to rule on the point of order.
I give members a fair amount of latitude, as I do to all members in terms of asking questions. Pre-budget consultations are a time when there is a broad variety of topics, so I'm going to allow Ms. Watts to answer the question and then we're going to move on.
12:55 p.m.
Researcher, REAL Women of Canada
Well, we believe in fairness, but we do recognize the uniqueness of traditional marriage—mother, father, and children. The lesbian relationship is a relatively new unit in society, and we are very interested in following the social sciences, which will tell us more about these units. Social sciences have noticed that there is a difference between the marriage unit and the common-law unit. The common-law unit has negative indicators, so we're looking forward to further social science studies of all the family units and to promoting the best environment.
1 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Brison.
We will go to Mr. Van Kesteren, please.
1 p.m.
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you for attending, everyone, for joining us this afternoon.
I have a question for the Canadian Gas Association. I am looking at your recommendations and I'm not seeing an ask here, and that really shocks me. That's a good thing, I think.
But you have something here that you have to explain to me. You mentioned ETIC, and I'm reading about this. From what I've read, industry has taken on the role that traditionally—and boy, we might get into trouble for this—has become the role of government, like our granting councils and programs like SR and ED. But you've said your organization has pooled money and you are going to be doing some research into areas where you can expand the industry. Do I understand that correctly?
1 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Gas Association
Mr. Chairman, that's essentially right. I have a few points of clarification. We're calling it a virtual fund. It's early days. It does amount to a pooling of capital from our member companies. The focus of that capital is on demonstration and commercialization of new technologies, the idea being that by investing directly as entities that deal with customers day in and day out, we have a good sense of what customer needs are and we can direct capital to new applications that will improve the efficiency and innovation of uses for those needs.
To your point about whether there is an ask, we don't have a specific financial ask at this time. You're correct. Our approach, in coming before the committee, was that there were clear indications from the committee material that the committee was looking for suggestions on how to better use public moneys. Our suggestions are designed, we hope, in a manner to make suggestions on how to do that.
And with respect to ETIC, the opportunity I think is for government to monitor the progress of this fund and potentially, on specific one-offs, to partner with us.
1 p.m.
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
I find this fascinating, because yours is the industry that's been so heavily attacked by special interest groups and even some governments. You know, big gas—I think the former leader called it something else, but after the correction was there, it was big gas.... So this is good stuff, and I want to commend you on what you've done and what you're doing.
Can you give me some examples, too, of QUEST? You're talking about a particular interest in better delivery of energy solutions. What I'm hearing is that you're bringing to the marketplace new products, and that is essentially the problem we've recognized in industry. We're having difficulty discovering the stuff and then bringing it to market. Can you maybe just elaborate on that, sir?
1 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Gas Association
Yes, thank you.
QUEST is a separate organization that we were instrumental in creating. It's now an independent corporation, and many of our member companies are active in it. It is about the promotion of integrated community energy systems, which will include a variety of technologies.
The member asked about some specific technologies that would involve bringing products to market. I can talk about four areas we're working on. One is renewable natural gas technologies; one is industrial processes; one is transportation; and the final one is integrated community energy systems, as I have already mentioned.
A specific project we're working on right now involves the demonstration of new hot water technology for homes, and we are about to launch 91 pilot tests across the country where we will use new technology in Canadians' homes and monitor the performance of that technology in order to facilitate the introduction of new product into the market. That's going on right now, and that's an example. And by the way, we're working with NRCan on that.
1 p.m.
Conservative
Dave Van Kesteren Conservative Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're basically asking government to recognize the good works that natural gas organizations are doing and the huge potential they have, and not to stand in the way of these developments. Have I got that right?
1:05 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Gas Association
That's correct. We would argue that natural gas is the often forgotten sibling in the energy mix. We think it deserves a higher profile, because its versatility delivers extraordinary benefits to the economy and we want to highlight them.
1:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you, Mr. Van Kesteren.
To the witnesses, I presume you can stay past one o'clock. I have four more members who want to ask questions. Some members have other commitments, so that's why they are going. I'm asking if you can all stay for another 20 minutes.
Okay. Thank you very much for doing that.
Mr. Mai, you have the floor.
1:05 p.m.
NDP
Hoang Mai NDP Brossard—La Prairie, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Brun, Thank you for mentioning the Champlain Bridge. It's in my riding. We're working very hard on this file and we had to put pressure on the government for it to announce replacement of the bridge. We continue to ask for infrastructure investments to be made, for them to be lasting and for us to be able to make plans very soon. We have asked that a certain amount be transferred from the Gas Tax Fund, or from the excise gasoline tax, and that this amount be indexed, in addition to being added.
In the last budget, the amount proposed was $2 billion, but we don't think that's not enough, considering the scope of the current infrastructure problem, which represents... My colleague is telling me it's about $127 billion. That's what the FCM mentioned. So we'll trust that. We're agreed.
We're also aware of the household debt problem. Do you have any concrete suggestions on what the government should do to reduce this debt?
1:05 p.m.
Director, Government Relations, Desjardins Group
Yes, definitely.
Regarding household debt, I already mentioned that three measures had been taken concerning mortgage debt. The debt level depends heavily on the profile of the investor or the person. Actually it varies a lot depending on age level and income level. The matter of mortgage debt must be followed very closely. The amortization term could be taken into consideration. As for consumer debt, we said that an increase in the minimum payment was a good signal to send out.
In the end, I think that we should take a pro-active approach to this problem and integrate aspects of education and financial literacy. Furthermore, an announcement has been made that November will be Financial Literacy Month. We made this announcement at the beginning of the month in the context of some major initiatives. The Desjardins Group attaches great importance to everything educational. Moreover we're going to make some important announcements next week. Consumers and the population must also assume responsibility in this area. They could spend a little less time choosing a television set and spend a little more time becoming acquainted with their financial products and services.
1:05 p.m.
NDP
Hoang Mai NDP Brossard—La Prairie, QC
Thank you very much.
Mr. Barr, the guild has recommended powerful tax incentives to encourage much needed private investment. I mentioned before that we had $500 billion of private money sleeping. What types of measures would you recommend in terms of having tools to have the private sector invest?
1:05 p.m.
National Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Directors Guild of Canada
Thank you for the question.
We think there's an incredible opportunity here to incent private investment in a sector that one would have to acknowledge is high risk and high cost. It's not to say that the rewards aren't also great.
The Canadian industry is booming. Vancouver and Toronto are among the top five production centres in North America for film and television. There's a robust workforce and it's highly skilled. This is a sector that public policy decisions have built, but it cannot move forward and get the scale necessary without significant private investment.
We think we can do that by taking a page from the book of this government and previous governments that encouraged private sector investment in oil and gas with the flow-through share arrangement. That allows organizations and businesses that are working in very high-risk circumstances, where success is hit-related, to pass on initial losses as a benefit to investors. It has an enormous impact on incenting private sector investment.
When this was introduced in 2001 with oil and gas, in one year investment in oil and gas exploration in Canada surpassed Australia's as the leading domestic exploration budget in the world. So it is plainly something that works and encourages private sector investment. It would work as well in the audiovisual industry.
1:10 p.m.
NDP
Hoang Mai NDP Brossard—La Prairie, QC
Quickly, we agree, but why should we continue investing in CBC/Radio-Canada?
1:10 p.m.
National Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Directors Guild of Canada
CBC is a key national broadcaster.
It is not over-funded. Funding to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is at the level of about $35 per capita in Canada. It is one of the lowest levels of subsidy to a national broadcaster in the world. Only the United States and New Zealand are less. It is an efficient, effective national broadcaster. It is very important to Canadians. It ought to be supported.
1:10 p.m.
Conservative
1:10 p.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, witnesses, for appearing today.
I did want to make mention of the Champlain Bridge as well. I come from northern Alberta, which is the fastest growing area in Canada and produces more GDP per person than any place else in the country by far. We would love the federal government to build a bridge there too. I think it currently owns five bridges, three within a mile of this place, two in Quebec, and one in Atlantic Canada.
To make a point, I think the Champlain is one of the biggest bridges in the country. We certainly need infrastructure in western Canada, and Alberta in particular, because most of the transfers come from Alberta and we have very bad infrastructure compared to Quebec. I want to put that on the record, speaking for my constituents who sit in lineups for two hours every morning and every night waiting to work.
I did want to talk specifically in relation to what you mentioned. You mentioned three points, the first one being to stay the course, Desjardins. I was impressed with that because, frankly, I think we are on the right course, and I see by your comments that you think we're on the right course now. You talked about flexibility and you talked about the ability to change quickly, which is exactly what we are doing as a federal government.
Would you not agree with that?
1:10 p.m.
Director, Government Relations, Desjardins Group
That's right, absolutely.
Overall, in our opinion, we're well situated on the world scene. That's why we think that the budget should continue to stay the course. It was the momentum of staying the course.
Earlier you talked to me about the deficit. These are things that should be dealt with pretty quickly because of the geographical distribution of our investments, which are going to follow and won't decrease in terms of health and old age.
These are problems therefore to be dealt with. At present we're in a good situation.
We emphasized infrastructure, however, the importance of continuing to invest in this area.