Evidence of meeting #43 for Finance in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was federal.
3:20 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
The lender is willing to give you $200 million and your group cannot come up with $20 million.
3:20 p.m.
Representative, Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association of Canada
The lender is prepared to loan upwards of $200 million to the RV dealers across Canada, with guarantees.
3:20 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Can your group not come up with $20 million if $200 million is given?
3:20 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Nelson, I'm not sure I understood. Where would your site be exactly?
September 28th, 2009 / 3:20 p.m.
Co-Chair, Industry, Coalition for Canadian Astronomy
The ultimate site where it's built is on Mauna Kea. It's on the top of a mountain on the big island of Hawaii.
3:20 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
How would Canada benefit with the site being there? I understand there would be certain spinoffs, but I would say most of the benefit would be to that island.
3:20 p.m.
Co-Chair, Industry, Coalition for Canadian Astronomy
No, there is the front end. The construction is here. We are the experts. The companies in Canada are the ones that are building the telescope, so that will be physically built here.
3:20 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
How would you transport the telescope if it's the size of—
3:20 p.m.
Co-Chair, Industry, Coalition for Canadian Astronomy
It's 4,000 tonnes of steel. How much money does it cost to transport it? We would ship it.
3:20 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
You would ship it and install it there anyway. It wouldn't be shipped in a whole piece, would it?
3:20 p.m.
Co-Chair, Industry, Coalition for Canadian Astronomy
No, it would be broken down.
3:20 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
I have a difficult time envisioning transporting GM Place from here to--
3:20 p.m.
Co-Chair, Industry, Coalition for Canadian Astronomy
All the telescopes in the world that we have built have been built here in British Columbia, actually, and shipped around the world. You can speak more to where the best locations are. There are only a couple of places in the world where they can be sited.
3:20 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Explain to me what would happen. The financing would go to construct the site. What would happen with the ongoing cost? There would be recurring costs every year to either maintain it or just operate it.
3:20 p.m.
Co-Chair, Canadian Astronomical Society, Coalition for Canadian Astronomy
Canada operates a number of smaller observatories. We have a share in the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, which is also on Mauna Kea simply because that is one of the best places in the world to do these observations from. We also have a small share in the Gemini Observatory.
These are relatively small telescopes compared to the TMT, which is really enormous and much more powerful.
There are ongoing operational costs that come through the National Research Council of Canada, which is mandated to operate the telescopes constructed by the Government of Canada.
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
So the government is already doing it, but I'm saying that in a project such as the one you're contemplating, the costs would be much higher. Would there be any revenues coming in to offset some of those operating costs?
3:25 p.m.
Co-Chair, Industry, Coalition for Canadian Astronomy
No. It's not a commercial enterprise; it's a scientific enterprise. The revenues coming in go to Canadian firms that build it. But you're right in that the actual program is a 10-year program and the telescope lasts for.... We built the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope in 1975 and it's still operating today. The NRC finances those ongoing operations.
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Would you have any idea of what your annual operating costs would be?
3:25 p.m.
Co-Chair, Canadian Astronomical Society, Coalition for Canadian Astronomy
Remember, it's a collaboration in which we presently have a 25% share. I think the overall cost of operation of the telescope over a 20-year period is approximately $1 billion. That's shared by the partners.
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
You wouldn't be able to sell any of that information that you got a hold of, even to government or third parties?
3:25 p.m.
Co-Chair, Canadian Astronomical Society, Coalition for Canadian Astronomy
We don't normally sell scientific information. We publish it.
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Okay.
Just quickly, Ms. Leduc, Canada is obviously getting older. There are a lot of buildings that are getting older, buildings across the country, and some of them are prime real estate. Are we going to be giving tax credits to developers, or does it really matter whether the person is in the business or not?
