Evidence of meeting #49 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was information.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
12:20 p.m.
NDP
Dan Harris NDP Scarborough Southwest, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and you, Madame Pham.
I'm going to follow up a little on Mr. Wallace's questions. He was asking about the criteria used to determine funding. Of course there are no guarantees, but certainly the criteria are about making the best bet, the best guess, and the best estimate as to what's going to be successful.
The minister said earlier that for the number of requests that are received compared with the amount of money that's there, they have to say no ten times for every time they say yes.
Based upon the criteria that the department uses, what percentage of programs do you think would get approval if there were additional funds available?
12:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Operations, Canada Economic Development
That is a very hard question to answer. As you know, we do receive more requests every year for all of our programs, more than what we're able to support, and then we have to make choices based on priorities and the expected outcomes. I'm not in a position to project, for example, what would be the right amount of grants and contributions that would be required to meet all of the business or even community needs.
12:20 p.m.
NDP
Dan Harris NDP Scarborough Southwest, ON
I'm asking because, for instance, each member here is probably pretty used to the youth summer jobs program, which is development money that's put out. We all receive a list of all the groups. They're given a score based on those criteria, and the money always runs out before you hit the bottom of the list for projects that would be approved.
Are you guys making that kind of determination as to which projects should be approved?
12:20 p.m.
Vice-President, Operations, Canada Economic Development
Every department has annual financial planning. We start the year with an envelope, and then, depending on the project that comes in.... We do have benchmarks, for example, with respect to what should be engaged or committed in terms of funds, so that we can choose the best projects by mid-year or by three-quarters of the year. We do have a process in place.
12:20 p.m.
NDP
Dan Harris NDP Scarborough Southwest, ON
Thank you.
Madame Perreault, earlier you had mentioned that when the budget was released in the spring, the details weren't there until the supplementary estimates, and, of course, that creates a difference in the amount of money being requested. Who actually makes the determination as to whether those details will appear in the original budget in the spring or in the supplementary estimates in the fall?
12:20 p.m.
Director General, Departmental Finances Branch, Canada Economic Development
I think I understand your question. I would say that it really depends on when the information becomes available. If, for example, the main estimates are already done when the decision becomes known, it may appear in the next set of estimates. It really depends on the timing of the decision in relation to the estimates process. That is how we determine where to include it.
12:20 p.m.
NDP
12:20 p.m.
Director General, Departmental Finances Branch, Canada Economic Development
The budget decision came on March 29. So we put together the information and we submitted our request at the first opportunity. Actually, since we didn't have any requests in supplementary estimates (A) either, our first budget submission was included in supplementary estimates (B). That is why the expenditure review was applied under supplementary estimates (B).
If we did not request any additional funding, as in CIIF's case, and no additional funding was received, the supplementary estimates would not contain any information on it.
12:20 p.m.
Director General, Departmental Finances Branch, Canada Economic Development
Is that clear?
12:20 p.m.
Director General, Departmental Finances Branch, Canada Economic Development
Okay.
12:20 p.m.
Conservative
12:20 p.m.
NDP
Dan Harris NDP Scarborough Southwest, ON
I'll pass it to Madame LeBlanc, but I did want to make a point since Mr. Regan held off the formal request that Thursday's meeting be televised.
I do believe that we as a committee, and even the Conservatives, had agreed to have this meeting televised as well, even if it's not in the record. There had been an agreement and an understanding that it would be televised today.
12:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
Madame LeBlanc, we'll just shut the time off.
I wanted to address that. I want to make clear that none of the professional staff here were responsible for that. That was my decision. We reviewed the regular minutes. We reviewed the minutes in camera. To be sure, I made sure that we sent out the notice of orders of the day almost a week in advance, so that if that request was going to happen, we'd be very open to it.
If there was some other request that somehow got mismanaged and was never recorded in any of the transcripts or anything, then I will give the regrets myself that it happened. Certainly the request has been made and there was no objection to the request, so it's been recorded. In fact, the clerk is so efficient he's already set the ball in motion for it to be done on Thursday.
12:25 p.m.
NDP
Dan Harris NDP Scarborough Southwest, ON
Great. I didn't want to take up the time with the minister here by asking those questions.
12:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
That's fine. I wanted to clarify as well. My role here is to serve the committee as well as possible. I will always make sure that those requests are fulfilled. If somehow it was missed, then I take responsibility myself.
12:25 p.m.
NDP
Hélène LeBlanc NDP LaSalle—Émard, QC
Actually, I may ask two.
You are aware that 2012 is the International Year of Cooperatives. I had the opportunity to sit on the special committee on cooperatives.
First off, as you know, the cooperative movement is quite large in Quebec. I was wondering whether cooperatives were approached so they could access programs offered by the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec. Second, I would like to know whether the agency was open to cooperatives. Do the people on the job have a solid grasp of the cooperative movement, and so forth? Is the connection clear?
That's what I would like to know.
