Industry Committee on Sept. 28th, 2006

[Dan McTeague, Liberal, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

I mean the cut in the TPC.

[Richard Dicerni]

As I was saying, there is still a fair amount of money left. There is other capital, venture capital.

If you look at it in terms of the Canadian market, we are trying to work with provinces on the internal market, because many people have told us that it's much harder to send something from Halifax to Montreal to Toronto than it is to....

The minister went to Halifax a couple of weeks ago to meet with the ministers of internal trade--Premier Doer chaired that meeting--to truly make a commitment to make the internal market work. I think you will see some progress there that builds on the B.C.-Alberta agreement.

So there are a number of tracks that I think can be pursued to enhance the Canadian market and to facilitate synergy with existing institutions. And as I said, and to repeat what the minister said, the program was not eliminated; $20 million was reduced.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. McTeague.

We'll go to Mr. Watson for five minutes.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's a pleasure to sit in on the committee today. Welcome to the guests here.

We come to a process like this and everybody starts focusing on I think some of the small specifics of individual savings that have been identified. I keep coming back to the broader context of what a budget is like.

Of course, at home, I have a family, and we just bought a new home, actually, in Amherstburg. Many of the principles we apply in the home I guess we apply to budgets overall. My wife was remodelling a bathroom, for example, and we came in under budget. We had some unused money set aside, and that gave us some choices--to invest in another room in the house, for example. We could do other things with it.

In other words, we were able to deliver on something that we wanted to achieve, and we still had something left over, so it didn't affect our ability to deliver on what we wanted.

To bring it back to what's happening now in the government, is that some of what's happened through this process in your own department?

[Richard Dicerni]

As I read Minister Flaherty's and Minister's Baird's remarks with regard to the process the government went through and the results they achieved, I think if I compare what you said to what Ministers Flaherty and Baird described, one could see a dovetailing of intentions.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Let's look at CIPO, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. Let me come to that for a moment and again relate what I see as a bit of a comparison. We actually, in the sale of our home, had an unanticipated surplus; we did a little bit better than we thought we were going to do. So we're going to put it towards a high-efficiency central air conditioning unit, better than the one that was there--it's 23 years old, it's not efficient anymore. It's actually going to create some longer-term savings, because we've made that kind of investment with an unexpected surplus.

Now, there was a surplus in CIPO, so $50 million has been identified as a one-time reduction. Is there still a surplus in CIPO?

There is none at all?

[Richard Dicerni]

No. There is perhaps $1 million, which, in the grand scheme of things.... It's a revolving fund. To go back to your house, you want to have some money set aside just in case your roof starts leaking. So there is a need to not totally empty the revolving fund, because that would not be fair to the users who have paid into this.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

All right. I guess the point I'm trying to drive home is that the idea of having a contingency or the additional surplus is that it could be used, if necessary, to make an improvement or a further efficiency. Would you agree with that in this case?

[Richard Dicerni]

Yes, that is what management is very much focused on in order to provide value-for-money service to the people who are paying for this service.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Coming back to the broader aggregate sum total of all of the savings that have been identified now throughout all these programs, would you agree or do you believe that you can still be effective in investing to meet the priority needs of Canadians that you still have to invest in?

[Richard Dicerni]

If you look at the nature of the reductions that were announced, they span quite a diversity of agencies, programs, and activities, from Statistics Canada, to intellectual property, going back to technology partnerships. As I said earlier in response to a question from Mr. Carrie, all organizations always need to review what they do and how they do it to ensure internal operating efficiency as well as effectiveness of the programs, and in some respects, this is an ongoing activity, of which this is a part.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you, Mr. Watson.

We'll go to Ms. Stronach for five minutes.

[Belinda Stronach, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for attending today. I apologize for my lateness.

My question is a broader one and it relates to the need to develop an industrial strategy. I believe in this country we need to develop an industrial strategy. Presently I don't believe we have one that's sufficient to compete on a global basis, due to the increased global competition from China and other countries.

My question is, how do you intend, on a go-forward basis, to consult with the stakeholders, with industry groups? I know some of my colleagues here are familiar with the organization CAPC, the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council, and how it was formulated and structured. Do you intend to look at other groups based on an industry...a similar type of structure to be able to consult with those groups in the development of a strategy? That's one question I have.

The second part of that would be how China factors into that strategy, because we are in a global environment that is intensifying; you can't turn back the clock.

[Richard Dicerni]

First, in terms of CAPC, the minister very much looks forward to meeting with that organization.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Hear, hear!

[Richard Dicerni]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Ms. Stronach and Mr. Dicerni have the floor.

[Richard Dicerni]

The minister has met with a number of leaders in the auto sector, both the assemblers as well as parts...to get additional insights. I've spent some time with General Motors, Ford, and so forth, because we recognize that auto is a very important part of our national economy and it is very much one that we focus on.

Related to that, as you know, the government, with the governments of Mexico and the United States, recently established a North American Competitiveness Council. The area the minister has underlined as being his priority within that construct is border and access, particularly as they relate to the automobile sector, given the importance of in-time delivery of parts and so forth if we want to be fully integrated.

We recently met with the steel industry and the aerospace industry. The minister has asked me to meet on a regular basis, every four to six weeks, with CAP, which is the aerospace industry. I had a good two-hour session with them earlier this week.

There are a number of ongoing sessions. I spent a couple of hours yesterday with Perrin Beatty to focus, amongst other things, on competitiveness aspects as they relate to China. As you know, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters is quite focused on this.

With regard to the broader issue of industrial strategy, I think this would be somewhat outside the purview of discussing cuts.

[Belinda Stronach, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

It is a little bit outside, but when you make cuts, it either means you cut the budget or you have more room for future investments.

If I could make a comment, I again think some of my colleagues would concur that the CAPC model is a very effective one.

If I may make a suggestion, I think it would be a useful one to look at for other sectors in the economy. It brings all of the stakeholders together so that you eliminate all these disjointed efforts. It's a very effective group, and it's important to listen to them.

[Richard Dicerni]

As I said, we look forward to having this meeting.

[Belinda Stronach, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

But I believe that model should be extended to other sectors. I believe there was a time when industry had the benefit of directly tapping into industry and sector councils and really picking leaders in certain areas to become global champions. Perhaps it's something you can take a look at.

I must say that I have a concern.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Time's up, Ms. Stronach.

[Belinda Stronach, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

I'll save that concern.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Okay. Thank you.

We'll go to Monsieur Arthur, pour cinq minutes.