Evidence of meeting #184 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was proposed.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Manuel Dussault  Senior Director, Framework Policy, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
Justin Brown  Director, Financial Stability, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
Peter Fragiskatos  London North Centre, Lib.
Yuki Bourdeau  Senior Advisor, Capital Markets Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
Eleanor Ryan  Director General, Financial Institutions Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
Jean-François Girard  Director, Consumer Affairs, Financial Institutions Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch, Department of Finance
Brigitte Goulard  Deputy Commissionner, Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
Kim Rudd  Northumberland—Peterborough South, Lib.
Mark Schaan  Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
Ian Wright  Director, Financial Crimes Governance and Operations, Department of Finance
Darryl C. Patterson  Director, Corporate, Insolvency and Competition Policy Directorate, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Department of Industry
Martin Simard  Director, Copyright and Trademark Policy, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Department of Industry
Andrea Flewelling  Senior Policy Advisor, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Department of Industry
Patrick Blanar  Senior Policy Analyst, Patent Policy Directorate, Department of Industry
Dale MacMillan  Vice-President, Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer, National Research Council of Canada
Christopher Johnstone  Director General, National Programs and Business Services, National Research Council of Canada
Eric Grant  Director, Community Lands Development, Lands and Environmental Management, Lands and Economic Development, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Leane Walsh  Director, Fiscal Policy and Investment Readiness, Economic Policy Development, Lands and Economic Development, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Susan Waters  Director General, Lands and Environmental Management Branch, Lands and Economic Development, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Michèle Govier  Senior Director, Trade Rules, International Trade and Finance Branch, Department of Finance
Katharine Funtek  Executive Director, Trade Controls Policy, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Bev Shipley  Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, CPC
Nicole Giles  Director, International Trade and Finance, Assistant Deputy Minister's Office, Department of Finance
Deirdre Kent  Director General, International Assistance Policy, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Mark Lusignan  Director General, Grants and contributions Management, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (International Trade)
Michelle Kaminski  Director, Office of Innovative Finance, Grants and Contributions Management, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Chantal Larocque  Deputy Director, Development Finance, Grants and Contributions Financial Policy, Foreign Affairs Canada
Danielle Bélanger  Director, Gender-Based Analysis Plus and Strategic Policy, Policy and External Relations Directorate, Status of Women Canada
Alison McDermott  General Director, Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch, Department of Finance
Derek Armstrong  Executive Director, Results Division, Expenditure Management Sector, Treasury Board Secretariat
Lori Straznicky  Executive Director, Pay Equity Task Team, Strategic Policy, Analysis and Workplace Information, Labour Program, Department of Employment and Social Development
Don Graham  Senior Advisor to the Assistant Deputy Minister, Compensation and Labour Relations Sector, Treasury Board Secretariat
Bruce Kennedy  Manager, Pay Equity Task Team, Labour Program, Department of Employment and Social Development
Richard Stuart  Executive Director, Expenditure Analysis and Compensation Planning, Expenditure Management Sector, Treasury Board Secretariat
Colin Spencer James  Senior Director, Social Development Policy, Strategic and Service Policy Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
Andrew Brown  Director General, Employment Insurance Policy Directorate, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development
Barbara Moran  Director General, Strategic Policy, Analysis and Workplace, Labour Program, Department of Employment and Social Development
Rutha Astravas  Director, Employment Insurance Policy, Special Benefits Policy, Department of Employment and Social Development
Charles Philippe Rochon  Senior Policy Analyst, Labour Standards and Wage Earner Protection Program, Workplace Directorate, Department of Employment and Social Development

5:45 p.m.

Conservative

Tom Kmiec Conservative Calgary Shepard, AB

Okay.

I have one more question, then. Typically, a professional association will have a designation that becomes a protected title. I don't see it here under the definitions. Will they have a protected title as well, or is there no protected title with this profession?

5:45 p.m.

Senior Policy Analyst, Patent Policy Directorate, Department of Industry

Patrick Blanar

There are offences at proposed sections 67 and 68 of claiming to be a patent or a trademark agent.

5:45 p.m.

Conservative

Tom Kmiec Conservative Calgary Shepard, AB

Right, but there's no penalty for advertising. You wouldn't be able to advertise that you're an agent, but could you put some types of letters after your name pretending as if that would be a trademark agent?

5:45 p.m.

Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Mark Schaan

There are currently no....

5:45 p.m.

Conservative

Tom Kmiec Conservative Calgary Shepard, AB

There is none.

5:45 p.m.

Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Mark Schaan

There is none right now.

5:45 p.m.

Conservative

Tom Kmiec Conservative Calgary Shepard, AB

I could still go out there and confuse people and pretend as if I am hoping to make some business before I get caught, presumably.

5:45 p.m.

Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Mark Schaan

It is an offence under the act.

5:45 p.m.

Conservative

Tom Kmiec Conservative Calgary Shepard, AB

It is an offence.

5:45 p.m.

Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Mark Schaan

If you're not on the register, you can't appear before the office on a prosecutorial side for a patent.

5:45 p.m.

Senior Policy Analyst, Patent Policy Directorate, Department of Industry

Patrick Blanar

There are criminal penalties for this. There are fines, and in the event of appearing before the office, there is imprisonment.

5:45 p.m.

Conservative

Tom Kmiec Conservative Calgary Shepard, AB

You said that part of the reason to create the college is this governance issue that you identified. Was the creation of the college the only solution to fix that governance issue?

5:45 p.m.

Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Mark Schaan

We looked at it in a number of ways. Obviously we wanted to make sure that there was a way of ring-fencing the community that had gained access to privilege and that there was then a robust governance around it. We did look at other models but self-governance was in line with other professions in the country and had considerable numbers of corollaries that we could draw from.

5:45 p.m.

Conservative

Tom Kmiec Conservative Calgary Shepard, AB

Okay. You said a lot of this is already happening. Is there a code of ethics? Is there a professional standard of practice? Are all of those documents ready to go already? They would just be moved over and renamed, or does this need to be...?

5:45 p.m.

Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Mark Schaan

It's a mix. There's a code of conduct that does currently exist under IPIC, but this will actually regulate it and is in the process of being updated. There's also a transitionary period to allow for that creation.

5:45 p.m.

Conservative

Tom Kmiec Conservative Calgary Shepard, AB

Okay. I have one last question.

How many people, currently working for the government, would be moved over into this college? I notice that the college is not a Crown corporation, so the staffing of this thing is not going to be done by civil servants simply moved into the quasi-private sector. Will this be staffed up by new people?

5:45 p.m.

Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Mark Schaan

Yes, by new people.

5:45 p.m.

Conservative

Tom Kmiec Conservative Calgary Shepard, AB

Okay.

5:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Thank you.

I believe, Mr. Poilievre, you have one more question.

5:45 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON

Yes, my question is also on the college.

Is there a transition planned to go from the Intellectual Property Institute to the college? Does one transform into the other, and how will that transformation occur?

5:50 p.m.

Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Mark Schaan

There are two transformations that really have to happen. One is that we have to move from the existing system that lives within the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and the commissioner of patents and the registrar of trademarks, which maintains this list of who they are and who can appear. Right now, the professional body is currently an association.

The Intellectual Property Institute of Canada is a professional association, so what essentially will happen is that there will be a hived-off entity that becomes the college with these ministerial appointments and new governors elected from within the profession. It will then, once it's ready, in some ways, inherit the responsibilities that used to live within CIPO—Canadian Intellectual Property Office—but with a considerable new process around them in terms of fairness and due process and public interest.

5:50 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON

Will the personnel just automatically transfer over or...?

5:50 p.m.

Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Mark Schaan

No, the college will need to—“self-construct” is the wrong word—take shape by having its first governors and then appoint staff and go through the process of actually establishing itself. The goal there is to have sharp separation from the professional association. The professional association can do what it does and the college can become a governance and oversight body and inherit these powers that currently live within the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.

5:50 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON

Will the professional association keep functioning?

5:50 p.m.

Director General, Marketplace Framework Policy Branch, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Mark Schaan

Yes. It's our anticipation that IPIC will carry on and do other things related to the profession, including pursuing the interests of the profession in the legal community in the broader debate.