Oh, I am answering your question—
Evidence of meeting #5 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #5 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A video is available from Parliament.
1:35 p.m.
Corporate Secretary, Confédération des syndicats nationaux
Oh, I am answering your question—
1:35 p.m.
Corporate Secretary, Confédération des syndicats nationaux
Oh, yes, I am. Israel has had massive human rights violations in Palestine against the Palestinians, and we've been denouncing them for decades. That is a historical statement from our organization, and I will sustain that.
1:35 p.m.
Corporate Secretary, Confédération des syndicats nationaux
Absolutely, sir.
It's been voted on by our convention and members.
1:35 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Adler Conservative York Centre, ON
That I know.
I was just curious whether you stand by that or not.
1:35 p.m.
Conservative
1:35 p.m.
Conservative
1:35 p.m.
NDP
Raymond Côté NDP Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I would like to remind my colleague Mr. Adler that in the 1950s, President Eisenhower's Republican government was very proud to see the number of unionized workers increase by 2 million in the United States. However, as they say, things have changed a great deal since then.
We welcome a lot of very interesting witnesses. I am somewhat frustrated to have only five minutes to put questions to them. I am going to address my questions to Ms. Cannon and Mr. Davidson, and they will be on research in the academic sector.
I had the great privilege of meeting a person I consider a heroic figure in Canadian research, Mr. Louis Fortier, who founded ArcticNet. Mr. Fortier, it must be said, has no problem speaking his mind. He told me, as a point of interest, that the network of relationships in the university research environment, and even outside of it, is a great source of pride for Canada. It is one of the things that people sat up and took notice of throughout the world. However, when it comes to financial support, our performance is weak.
What do you think of what Mr. Fortier said to me?
1:35 p.m.
Vice-Chair, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Calgary, U15 - Group of Canadian Research Universities
I think we have seen the Government of Canada, consistently over many governments, invest in research and development in this country. That's acknowledged and certainly appreciated. That has helped Canada attract talent to our country and to develop innovative students who graduate to drive our economy and society.
What we are saying is that for Canada to be able to position itself on the world stage and compete with other countries that are investing significant funds, we must continue to have those investments of research funding.
For example, France has recently announced it's putting 7.7 billion euro into an excellence fund, there's 2.7 billion euro in Germany, and $1.67 billion in Australia. Then emerging countries like China and India are also investing significantly in their universities to gain prominence on the world stage. Although the ecosystem in Canada has been strong, if we look to the future we have to ensure that those investments are not only continued but also accelerated.
1:40 p.m.
NDP
Raymond Côté NDP Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you.
Mr. Davidson, could you make a brief comment, so as to allow me to ask another question?
1:40 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada
Briefly, I would like to add this.
ArcticNet is an outstanding example of international research collaboration, where Canada is playing a leadership role.
It's the kind of work where there's a global appetite for Canada to do more of.
If I can borrow a phrase from the Prime Minister, he speaks about how we can go further and faster. We are in a globally competitive world, and it's no longer good enough to be just a little better than the next country. We have to up our game.
1:40 p.m.
NDP
Raymond Côté NDP Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Thank you very much.
Mr. Aronshtam, Mr. Albert de Luca, your colleague from Deloitte Canada—I know that it is a very big firm—made some comments on the government's plan to inject $400 million in venture capital to offset the decrease in the workers' fund tax credit. In fact, speaking about workers' funds, he said this: “We are told that these things are interrelated. But if I have to choose between a program that has proven its worth and another that has not, I will choose the former.”
The American venture capital expert, Stephen Hurwitz, underscored the fact that in the Canadian context, workers' funds are fundamental.
Do you have any comments to make on that?
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
1:40 p.m.
Global Managing Director, Research and Development and Government Incentives, Deloitte LLP
Let me apologize. I'm really not an expert in labour sponsored funds.
I do a fair bit of work with venture investors all over the world. My experience in that area is that they are critical to a successful start-up economy, and I do think that historically in Canada we've always observed a significant shortage of venture funds.
My view, not backed up by research, but just looking at what's happening in the rest of the world, is that $400 million is not a lot. Even multiplying that to $1 billion is still not a lot for a country of our size.
I think it is important for the government to look at how we increase the amount of venture capital in Canada, but I can't really comment on labour sponsored funds. It's not something I practise.
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Acting Chair Conservative Dave Van Kesteren
Thank you, sir.
It's the chair's turn to have a round.
I'm going to go to Mr. Van Iterson.
Can you pronounce your name for me?
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Acting Chair Conservative Dave Van Kesteren
I should have known how to pronounce it, then, I guess.
1:40 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
1:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Acting Chair Conservative Dave Van Kesteren
I don't think there are too many people who would disagree with a greener world; I think we all want it.
You mentioned something about batteries. I'm going to tell you that this intrigues me. Where I live in southwestern Ontario, we don't have any trees, because it's great farmland and they cut them all down. But we have windmills—wind turbines, we like to call them. We have a forest of wind turbines, and they're all pushing....
The trouble is, as you probably know, that they turn when the wind is blowing, and oftentimes that's not when we need the power. As a matter of fact, we don't need the power, so we sell it more cheaply and we have to buy.... So there's a problem.
Batteries? Listen, I believe batteries represent an answer, but here's the problem that comes to mind. I know that when we got really excited about solar energy—I think we still look at the possibilities—we pumped billions of dollars into it. As a matter of fact, I think President Obama put a billion dollars into a company, and a year later they went broke. Why did they go broke? It's because the Chinese made them, and the Chinese make them a whole lot cheaper.
The same thing is true with wind turbines. I've been to those Chinese plants, and I've seen them crank those machines out. It's an awesome sight; it's a scary sight. We can't compete with them.
Let's say that we start to invest the money that you're suggesting we invest in batteries. Have you any idea of how we could keep the jobs here? Please don't tell me that it's because we have trade agreements. They can still bring them here, if they pay the tariffs. They do that and still clean our clocks.
How do we compete with the emerging economies in producing that stuff once we develop the technology?