Industry Committee on Aug. 7th, 2009

[Marie-Josée Thivierge]

Those were the thresholds that were set as part of international negotiations. I would add that this $312 million clearly, by law, applies to WTO countries. Non-WTO countries have a lower threshold prescribed in law, which is $5 million for direct acquisitions.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

And this other process, where we will see an increase from $600 million to $800 million, ultimately to $1 billion in four years, is that a Canadian initiative or is that also triggered as a result of the international agreements that are in place here?

[Richard Dicerni]

The government commissioned Mr. Wilson and four other panellists a couple of years ago to look at, broadly speaking, issues dealing with competitiveness in the country. Mr. Wilson tabled his report in June 2008. The government gave some thought to this report and subsequently introduced, as part of the budget implementation act that Mr. Masse referred to a little earlier, increasing the threshold in a progressive manner over the course of the next three or four years to reach the recommended level of $1 billion.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

What thinking went into that recommendation that came out of the Wilson report to increase those thresholds?

[Richard Dicerni]

It is part of a broader thematic aspect in Mr. Wilson's report, which generally speaking the government endorsed, that in order to sustain competitiveness and productivity, it is important for Canada to attract foreign direct investment. It was the view of that panel that perhaps having a low threshold was a disincentive to attracting foreign direct investment, which Canada needs to continue to improve its competitiveness.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Finally, Mr. Dicerni, as deputy minister you are, of course, responsible ultimately for administering the programs of Industry Canada, correct?

[Richard Dicerni]

That is a fair assumption.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

What programs are currently in place at Industry Canada, or perhaps even government-wide, that express this government's commitment to a strong high-tech sector, a robust research and development sector, and interest and support for innovation?

[Richard Dicerni]

The tax credit that we have spoken about is an important element of that arsenal.

Secondly, a couple of years ago the government released an S and T strategy. The strategy identified four key areas. The ICT sector was very much one of those. The establishment of that as a priority has subsequently guided decision-making in other areas, such as the attribution of centres of excellence for commercialization and research.

There was recently the knowledge infrastructure program, which is the infrastructure program for the post-secondary sector. I think there's over $200 million of investments targeted to post-secondary education communities in and around the ICT sector.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Please be brief, Mr. Dicerni, before we have to move on.

[Richard Dicerni]

And there are others.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay, thank you.

The last member today is the person who asked us to call this meeting originally, Mr. Masse.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I just want to clarify. Do the tax credits that are going to LTE technology follow the SR and ED credits that haven't been applied for yet? They've put in $300 million over that--at least that, at the very minimum, they've admitted today--in the last few years without being able to claim it. Does that move with the technology or does it stay with the company? Have we ever faced a situation like that before?

[Richard Dicerni]

I don't know.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Maybe we can get that answer back from you at some point.

[Richard Dicerni]

Maybe somebody from...because we are not privy to all the documents that were submitted in court. The courts have sealed some of those documents pertaining to that deal.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I can appreciate that, but Ericsson doesn't believe it is true. I'd like to figure out some new thing.

[Richard Dicerni]

We will give you as much as we can.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

The interesting thing we're going through here now, I think, is shedding some good light on why I think changes should come through Parliament for legislation as opposed to a budget bill. Who appointed Mr. Wilson's panel?

[Richard Dicerni]

The government.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

So the minister did directly, right? The minister appointed the panel.

[Richard Dicerni]

Correct. The Minister of Industry at the time, Mr. Bernier, and Minister Flaherty announced this panel.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Okay. Now we have the billion-dollar threshold coming up. I want to make sure we're clear on that. That no longer follows international standards, right? We are now exceeding international standards on the threshold. Is that correct?

[Marie-Josée Thivierge]

I wouldn't say that.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

So every other nation in the WTO is going to move to a billion dollars in four years?