Finance Committee on May 22nd, 2013

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Okay, we're over time here.

Could you answer very briefly, please?

[Mario Albert]

We are completely committed to protecting investors in Quebec. Again, we do not question this objective; rather, it is the way it is being done. Everything is on the table and anything can be discussed as long as the jurisdiction of various governments is respected.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Okay, merci.

Thank you, Mr. Saxton.

Mr. McCallum, please, for your round.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to welcome all of our witnesses.

I will start with a question for Ms. Deans.

I was very impressed by your account of all the measures you've taken to create youth entrepreneurs, especially, as you say, with youth unemployment twice the national average, around 15%. As my colleague, Scott Brison, likes to point out, well over a third of people in their twenties are still living at home because they can't find work.

If you could create even more successful youth entrepreneurs, or even older ones, I think that would be terrific for jobs and terrific for the country. You say you have 2% to 3% of the market and you're looking to double that over some number of years. My question is, what if we said grow it 10 times? Would you be able to do that? What's the biggest restraint? Is it that you don't have enough money? If you got twice the money, could you get twice the results, or are there limits to how deep you can tap this pool of talent out there?

[Julia Deans]

That's a challenge I'd love to have.

I think we need to get a better sense of the market. Not everybody is ready to launch a start-up, but I'm quite certain we're going to be able to double our numbers. Certainly, with more money we'd build more capacity and help more young entrepreneurs, but with the doubling we will also set an example for others and hopefully continue to increase over time. But give me that challenge and I'll deliver.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Implicitly I'm thinking we might have a nice Liberal government sometime that really cares about youth jobs and we might say to you, “We'll triple the money or quadruple the money. Can you quadruple or triple the output?” I think you're saying “Maybe.”

[Julia Deans]

I'd like to think so.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Okay.

You also mentioned that two-thirds of small business owners are due to retire, and quite a few farmers are included in that group. Do you have any ideas about how one could possibly take advantage of that or capitalize on that to the benefit of your young entrepreneurs?

[Julia Deans]

Our work is with community partners who are in a position to help us identify where those opportunities are. We think we need to do a little bit more targeted matching to actually match-make between people who are retiring and entrepreneurs who may take their roles, and that there may be some specialized mentoring. A retiring business owner or farmer may not be able to extract all their capital immediately, so we think there are some things we can do to help facilitate that.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Thank you.

I guess my line of questioning is also explained by the fact that we're very keen on promoting things important for middle-class families, and that is a part of it.

I have a question for Mr. Levasseur.

You obviously do not like what the government is proposing to do with regard to CBC. I understand. What do you think is motivating the government? Why do you think the government has decided to manage CBC's daily affairs? That is something new.

[Alex Levasseur]

It is an extremely interesting question, but I have few answers for you because I cannot read the minds of the members of the government. There is perhaps a serious misunderstanding of CBC's work and its role. However, as I stated earlier, there are plenty of accountability measures in place.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

I have two hypotheses for you. If one were to be nice to the government, it would be possible to think that it wishes to manage costs which are ultimately paid by taxpayers. If one were to be less kind, it would be possible to think that the government wants to increase its control over the CBC and over journalists.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

You have one minute.

[Alex Levasseur]

Let's talk about managing costs. This is already done, since it is Parliament that adopts the CBC's budget. That is the best way to manage costs. We have already seen that. Since 2009, parliamentary allocations to the CBC have been significantly reduced. It was reduced by $115 million the first year and by about $180 million this year, with recurrent non-indexation everywhere. The budget therefore provides for an effective means of managing parliamentary contributions.

In terms of control over the CBC, I dare to hope that the government is not trying to control journalists. Journalists can be annoying sometimes. They say things we don't like, they dig around and they reveal things we don't want to hear or see. However, that is the role of journalism. This is especially true for a public broadcaster who is responsible to Canadians in terms of what others do with taxpayers' money, as well.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Merci, Monsieur McCallum.

Mr. Dechert, please, for your round.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your appearance here today.

I'd like to start with Ms. Deans, if I can, and the Canadian Youth Business Foundation. I think you mentioned in your opening remarks that to date, the CYBF has helped over 5,600 entrepreneurs and has utilized approximately 400 business mentors. You also mentioned you have special programs to assist newcomers.

I represent the city of Mississauga, which is home to a lot of newcomers. I had the opportunity about a year ago to attend a CYBF awards presentation with Prime Minister Harper, and I have to say I was very impressed with the young people I met there. I learned about some of the great businesses they're creating. They expressed to me how important it was, not so much the funding but the advice they were getting from those business mentors. That's something that I think is really invaluable.

I wonder if you could tell us a few of the success stories. Give us a few examples of the kinds of businesses that have been created. Especially, if you can, talk about some of the newcomers you've assisted.

[Julia Deans]

Sure.

I should say it was 4,000 volunteer mentors across Canada.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

It was 4,000?

Thank you very much.

[Julia Deans]

Yes, about 400 in Ontario alone. They are amazing people who commit to two years to help an entrepreneur get settled.

On the newcomer story, one favourite example is a woman I met in Saskatoon a few months ago. She had come from Ghana to the U.K. She'd worked in the fashion business for eight years and been very successful. Her husband was hired by the Government of Saskatchewan to run their eHealth. They moved to Saskatoon, and she said, “I want to start a fashion business using Ghanaian fabrics”, and she went to the bank. They said, “That's great. Come back in two years when you've been successful.” She said, “Well, aren't you welcoming newcomers?” They said “Sorry.”

We were the only game in town, but we lent her the $15,000 and we got her one of our former entrepreneurs who has been successful in the fashion business in Saskatoon, and it was a match made in heaven. They mentor each other.

I also really like the stories of people who are doing global businesses in Canada. One of my favourite ones is another person from Saskatchewan, who was an amazing hockey player, from Foam Lake, Saskatchewan. At 15 he was recruited by an Ivy League school, went off to Yale, got his economics degree, went up to the NHL, went to Wall Street, and was working as an analyst. He said, “All I want to do is go back and be able to go to my cabin at Foam Lake and see my family.” He came back. He's 26 years old. He said, “We have no more Wheat Board, so I'm going to figure out an online grain trading platform.” He did it. He launched it in the fall. He started a little morning blurb about something happening in the world that would help you figure out how you could sell your grain. He had 20 people subscribe originally, and he said they were all his family. Within three months he had 700 people reading this little blurb, which he does in Hockey Talk, and the grain trading platform is recognized by the major farm organizations across North America. He's running a global business—out of his SUV, I must say, but based in Saskatchewan.

Those are some of the people we're helping, in addition to people like Harry Chemko, who's running a big global business. They're amazing stories.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Those are really interesting stories. I have to say that with foreign newcomers especially, and I see this every day in Mississauga, they tend to not join big, established multinational companies with big pension plans. Often the only option for them to get integrated into our society and our economy is to start their own business. What you're doing, coupled with the reductions in small business tax rates that our government has implemented over the last several years, and things like pooled registered pension plans...I think they're really helping entrepreneurs in that space.

Can you tell us, in your view, once a person has started one business, how much easier is it for them to start a second or a third business? Do people become serial entrepreneurs, in your opinion?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

You have one minute left.

[Julia Deans]

We see a lot of examples of that. I couldn't give you numbers, but certainly the experience shows that people tend to sell. Our own chair, John Risley, is a great example of somebody who's done that a lot. I think even though somebody may not be successful in running their own business, they take those skills into a big business, so the successes continue no matter what path they take. They're great lessons.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Very briefly.

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Mr. Levasseur, I'd just like to ask you a question.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

There are 30 seconds. Is this time for a question and a response? We're getting new topics—