Information & Ethics Committee on Feb. 5th, 2026

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

I'll need you to wrap up, Minister.

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Okay.

I'll have legislation on privacy and data. Sovereignty is a form of safety. We need to be under Canadian law to keep Canadians safe.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Sari.

Mr. Barrett, you have five minutes.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

When we spoke last, you referenced Bill C-16. I want to start by identifying what I hope is some common ground on a very important issue. I'm hearing about it all the time. As a Canadian, as a concerned citizen and as a parent, I think it is very important that we get our arms around this thing. I, along with my colleagues and, I think, uniformly with members of the government caucus, support banning deepfakes of intimate partners. This especially protects women from non-consensual intimate images being created and shared online. We think there should be mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse material because this is going to help keep our children safe. We have agreement on that. This is included in Bill C-16.

Also included in Bill C-16 are provisions that deal with something that your government would know the official opposition does not support. Specifically, that is a provision that allows judges to ignore mandatory prison sentences for serious crimes like human trafficking, aggravated sexual assault with a gun and violent firearms offences.

We have an issue that we know we don't agree on, and we have an issue that we know we agree on.

Minister, this is a really important time for our country. I'm looking to see if, in the spirit of collaboration, you would say, “Yes, we agree on the things that we agree on. Let's split this bill.” The government can find another dance partner on the provisions that the official opposition disagrees with. Let's deal with what we could probably pass unanimously in the House to protect vulnerable people, to protect victims and to ensure their dignity. Would you support splitting Bill C-16?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

First, I'll take 10 seconds to say that I know, Mr. Chair, that this member is a father and has served the country. I'm a father. When it comes to talking about protecting, I know this member feels it personally. I respect that, and I always thank him for his service.

We agree personally and professionally that protecting Canadians is our number one responsibility. Let me just say that the non-consensual sharing of sexualized deepfakes is a disgusting practice. It harms women. It harms vulnerable people. The fact that we have shared agreement on this is absolutely critical.

Now, I know the justice minister is in charge of this bill; I'm not going to negotiate on behalf of the justice minister. However, I will say this: I absolutely appreciate the open, transparent and good-faith negotiation. I know there are always elements of disagreement and agreement on some aspects of a bill. I can't negotiate for the justice minister on a bill, but I will say that I share your concern and your need to protect.

Part of deepfakes will be captured in Bill C-16—the sharing of non-consensual sexualized imagery. Part of that will be, I hope, captured in the privacy legislation because there's an element of deepfakes there that we have to protect citizens from and consumers from. We are looking at various things there very closely, things that the honourable member's party has raised, things like the right to deletion and other things.

I know that my colleague Marc Miller, the heritage minister, is also looking at harms in relation to social media.

We have a suite of protection mechanisms, and I know we're working closely on that. I appreciate the spirit of good faith. I hope we can act fast on making sure that we criminalize the sharing of non-consensual sexualized imagery.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, ON]

Okay, I have 30 seconds, so I can't get into another question.

Will you undertake to share this feedback directly with the minister on my behalf and that of my Conservative colleagues? Will you undertake to share that collaborative offer?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Absolutely. I always appreciate the dialogue from the honourable member, and I will absolutely share that with the justice minister. I appreciate the question.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Barrett.

Mr. Grant, you have five minutes.

[Wade Grant, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Thank you very much, and thank you for your hospitality to the ethics committee for allowing me to be here today.

Thank you, Minister, for your presentation and the answers that you have given.

I think I'm the lone British Columbia MP. I thank you for the shout-out to UBC and SFU and the work that they're doing. I do know that building homegrown talent is one thing, but you talked about the AI workforce and talent attraction. Why is attracting international AI talent important for Canada's research ecosystem and an essential pillar to the pan-Canadian AI strategy?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

That's a great question.

I like that the honourable member always champions his region, which is great. The ecosystem and the businesses that are coming out of Vancouver and the entire region are phenomenal, especially in things like the life sciences. And also, frankly, they are a magnet for talent. We need talent. Canada's international talent attraction strategy and action plan is really about reforming the immigration system to meet new labour market needs. That's what we're trying to do. This technology is evolving. We need skills. We need folks to come here. The purpose of the talent attraction and the accelerated processing is to attract investment and talent to Canada, to start their business in Canada, to come to Canada to invest here and to bring their intellectual property here.

There was a long time where Canada, sadly, was the farm team where we had the talent and we did the great research. And then maybe it was access to capital, but folks were leaving. Now they're coming. We have a system to attract brain gain, not brain drain. That is the goal of the mission. We need it because it's a very competitive landscape.

The Prime Minister talks about this moment that we're in, a political realignment happening at the same time as a technological revolution. If we seize that, get new partners, expand our trade and have pathways to permanent residency for people who are investing in this country, absolutely that's a way to turn this into an opportunity.

[Wade Grant, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Just expanding on that, what new measures are needed to help talented researchers come to Canada and stay?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

One of them is a talent attraction. One of them is our CIFAR chairs. One of them is the ability to start a company here.

The honourable member knows our budget. We have the productivity superdeduction, which means.... I don't want to get too wonky, but these are moments that I think all honourable members from any party will appreciate.

Our marginal effective tax rate now after this budget—and we hope it passes with the budget implementation bill, let's pass that—would make that lower than it is in the United States after their One Big Beautiful Bill Act. What that means in real terms is this is a good place to invest. This is a good place to start a business. This is a good place for talent to come. This is a safe place for talent to come. There's also talent that you can hire here based out of our universities. Attracting talent is one way to do it.

When you start a company here, you can get a SR and ED credit. That means you can actually hire, and we've reformed that system. There are incentives for small businesses to hire and to use those credits to hire innovative employees, and we're helping them. There are lots of mechanisms to attract talent here.

[Wade Grant, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Given the recent changes, what is the government doing to ensure top global talent can come here quickly and contribute to our research ecosystem?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Again, I'm really happy to say that I know my colleagues at IRCC will be delivering the accelerated processing for recruitment talent, and then making sure that there's a pathway to PR to make sure that the talent can come here. This is why the Minister of Immigration, knowing our file, is working so closely, getting our levels plan done, getting control over our immigration system and making sure that it is used for the benefit of all Canadians to invest here in Canada.

[Wade Grant, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

I'm a father of a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old. My son's about to go to university. You said AI is the future. It's here now. What can he expect if he wants to go into this? How can he be supported?

[Evan Solomon, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

The best advice I give to my kids and to everyone is to get a good education. The technology is changing, but investing in a good education and making sure they have the skills to adapt are absolutely crucial. I know the hon. member is a good dad, and he raised those kids right.

[Wade Grant, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Thank you, Minister.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

The best advice we got, as a committee, was when we did our misinformation and disinformation study, which used to be known as “lying”. We had a witness come before us who told us to assume everything online is fake until it's proven to be true.

I am not looking for a response. I am just saying that we've had witnesses come before us and state this. That's how the state of deepfakes, AI and all that stuff has evolved.

Minister, I want to thank you for being here and—

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

The floor is yours, Mr. Thériault.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

I'm a bit surprised to hear you thanking the minister. According to the motion, which was adopted unanimously, the minister was supposed to be here for two hours.

Would he be kind enough to stay a few minutes more to answer some questions?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

We sent the motion adopted by the committee, and the clerk spoke with the parliamentary affairs office, but the minister's office said that the minister was available for only an hour, despite the motion adopted by the majority of the committee.

I can ask the minister whether he can stay another hour, if you like. I have no problem with that, because I know many of the members here today have questions they'd like to ask.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

At the very least, can we ask him to stay for the remainder of the hour, until five o'clock, so we can do another round?

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Minister, you know there was a motion passed by this committee to have you here for two hours. We asked you through your office, on 11 occasions, to come before this committee. This was the date that was accommodated.

The question Mr. Thériault has is this: If you're available, can you stay?

I'm going to leave that with you.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Can I say something?