It's not their main focus?
Evidence of meeting #42 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was funding.
Evidence of meeting #42 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was funding.
3:30 p.m.
President, ASL Environmental Sciences Inc.
No. We need to establish priorities in government in partnership with where we see priorities in the future of Canada's S and T policies, and where we want to go. Fisheries and Oceans has a huge mandate, so it's understandable. But again it's a matter of prioritizing, of deciding where they're underfunding, and putting more money in the science and technology there.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
Are they best suited to handle this, or should we do it through industry or...?
3:35 p.m.
President, ASL Environmental Sciences Inc.
I suspect it's true for all of us, but certainly for the ocean renewable sector it's not just one department. NRCan has a role. Fisheries and Oceans certainly has a role in the ocean engineering and technology side, and Environment Canada does as well. So on the way the federal government system works, we have split jurisdictions there, and sometimes they can be a barrier.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
Perfect.
I think Mr. Schubak said we have five filling stations right now for hydrogen.
3:35 p.m.
Manager, Hydrogen Highway Project, Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Canada
That's correct.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Raymond Simard Liberal Saint Boniface, MB
One of the comments made at our previous visit was that it's very difficult to handle hydrogen and move it as you move gas or fuel. How are you doing that, and is that going to be an obstacle down the road?
3:35 p.m.
Manager, Hydrogen Highway Project, Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Canada
That's a good question.
Currently within the B.C. Hydrogen Highway, a local green source of hydrogen is being produced and purified from waste streams. So we have some industry on the north shore, and they vent out enough hydrogen for thousands of vehicles.
3:35 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Canada
It's enough for 20,000.
3:35 p.m.
Manager, Hydrogen Highway Project, Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Canada
Yes. We're taking a slipstream of that within one of our programs, purifying it, compressing it, storing it in high-pressure power cubes, and dispensing it to various sites for usage. One of them is going to Port Coquitlam to use in the natural gas blend for vehicles there. It's being utilized at a fuelling station for hydrogen vehicles.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
3:35 p.m.
Manager, Hydrogen Highway Project, Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Canada
We're producing hydrogen locally from a green source, and then shipping it to the sites where we fill our vehicles. That's one program we have; it's not the only solution. I toured the facility this morning for the first time and was very impressed.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll try to leave some time for my colleague, Mr. Van Kesteren.
Mr. Fissel, you mentioned some problems with the administration side of the SR&ED tax incentive. I think it's the first time we've heard about that at the panel. Can you give us some details on that? What's the main issue there?
3:35 p.m.
President, ASL Environmental Sciences Inc.
SR&ED is a very good program, and one of Canada's real strengths for everybody in science and technology. It has been funded more in this last federal budget. As you probably know, it is administered by Canada Revenue Agency, which is not a science and technology department--it comprises accountants. In spite of their best efforts, they sometimes look to audit rather than encourage. That's a different mindset, so it's understandable. Canada Revenue Agency should focus on supporting industry with this program, not making sure the claim is 100% audit-proof, or something like that.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Thank you very much.
Mr. Tak, either you or Mr. Schubak spoke as if there were almost a space race going on here for who was going to advance hydrogen technology into a practical and affordable technology for today's consumers. In this flat world, that seems to be a bit counterproductive.
Is there some way there could be some collaboration among the brightest minds in this field to find a way to move this forward more quickly, instead of each nation beating each other up trying to get there first?
3:35 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Canada
Absolutely, and there is that. We have memorandums of understanding with the California fuel cell partnership and the Scandinavian fuel cell partnership, where we share lessons learned. Right now there is a lot of global collaboration to get the market established. Then we'll blow our brains out in competition. So there is quite a bit of global cooperation.
It's interesting that the 20 buses Gary mentioned are hybrid fuel-cell buses. A lot of people think that hybrid technology is one thing and fuel cell technology is another thing, and that's absolutely wrong. These are hybrid fuel-cell buses. So we're cooperating with other sectors as well.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Let Dave go ahead then, and if there's time at the end, I'll come back.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
As we have four members here who have to catch a flight, I was going to gently impose on the panel and suggest that we perhaps go an extra five or seven minutes. Mr. Van Kesteren and Mr. Carrie and I are leaving tomorrow, and the four others are leaving. So Mr. Stanton, if you want to finish your questions....
Panel, is it okay for us to impose on you for another five to seven minutes?