Evidence of meeting #6 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was funding.
A video is available from Parliament.
February 18th, 2016 / 4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Lisa Raitt Conservative Milton, ON
Mr. Bain, we'll go back to you on P3s.
As you know, one of the projects I was involved in is the Gordie Howe bridge. Can you give me an update on what effect the lower Canadian dollar has had on the costs associated with the Gordie Howe bridge? Are you aware of the currency exchange having had an effect on project cost?
4:05 p.m.
Vice-Chair, Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships
I'm not, to tell you the truth. Clearly there is a Canada-U.S. aspect to it, but the project is at an early stage. A shortlist has been announced ,so I really have not heard recent cost updates.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Lisa Raitt Conservative Milton, ON
Okay. Good.
One thing I heard from the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board when I asked the same question about infrastructure and investment to find out why they don't invest more in Canada is that it's because the projects are too small, and there's an encouragement to bundle up to a level of their floor. Their floor is over $100 million. They look at big projects, and they do it all over the world.
Are you encountering that in terms of the uptake, and should the government be encouraged to bundle up waste-water treatment or to make more sense of these projects so that we can get some private investment in there?
4:05 p.m.
Vice-Chair, Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships
It's a great conundrum because, of course, we see some of our leading Canadian infrastructure investors, CPPIB, OMERS, OTPP, and the Caisse de dépôt investing huge sums of money overseas and not domestically.
You're quite right that part of the reason is they just can't get the bite size. That's a consequence of two things. The individual projects tend to be smaller in Canada than in developing nations or nations with a great concentration. Another factor is that we have optimized the way in which we deliver P3s so that they are highly leveraged, so there's a significant amount of debt capital rather than equity capital in them. That makes the equity bites relatively small.
Bundling is one idea. Looking at a different way of financing the project so there is either a larger equity component or a larger pension fund contribution to the debt component is another way of going at it.
4:05 p.m.
Vice-Chair, Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships
I do feel the small project issue is compounded by the fact that only a small component of the project size is equity.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Lisa Raitt Conservative Milton, ON
Good point. Thank you very much.
Mr. Brault, thank you very much for coming here, and thank you for all the work you have been doing with the Canada Council for the Arts.
I'm curious. I have two questions for you. The first one has to do with the currency. Do you see with the Canadian dollar being lower that it's helping the arts community? I'm thinking about film and television production. Do you see that happening right now?
4:10 p.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Director's Office, Canada Council for the Arts
Actually, it's playing both ways. If you are going international, or if you have artists coming in, if you are an opera company and you're signing international artists.... In general terms, there's some kind of new equilibrium happening. Depending which sector you're talking about, it has different impacts.
I think it's clear that now there's a big demand all over the world for artistic products, artistic performers, and it's a good time to export more. For cultural exports, it's really a good time now.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
4:10 p.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Director's Office, Canada Council for the Arts
Yes.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Lisa Raitt Conservative Milton, ON
Is there private investment out there that does arts support as well, and what does it look like as a sector?
4:10 p.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Director's Office, Canada Council for the Arts
I'm sorry?
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
4:10 p.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Director's Office, Canada Council for the Arts
Private donations in the arts are quite stable. What we see now as a trend is that donations are coming more and more from individuals and less from corporations, because there is a shift in terms of corporations going more towards other kinds of charities. But clearly, there's strong support from individual donors.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Lisa Raitt Conservative Milton, ON
Okay. Thank you very much.
Mr. Lavoie, I'm wondering how important the oil and gas sector is to your membership. Is that a big piece of what manufacturers and exporters do in Canada?
4:10 p.m.
Director, Business Tax and Innovation, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters
It's a big piece. With the drop in the oil price and the drop in activity, we've seen an impact on domestic sales in manufacturing. It does impact us. Many of our member companies, especially in southern Ontario, had started to look at becoming suppliers to oil and gas. Now they're stuck into maybe going back to something more traditional. It's very difficult to know right now what's going to happen.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Lisa Raitt Conservative Milton, ON
Yes, I appreciate that.
Mr. Calver, what would be your organization's opinion on a guaranteed annual income as a concept in Canada?
4:10 p.m.
Economist, Centre for the Study of Living Standards
We're open-minded about it. I personally think it's something we should be looking into, but we don't have an official stance on it.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Lisa Raitt Conservative Milton, ON
Right. There was someone this morning who suggested that the government should put aside some money to do a study, some pilot projects across the country on the topic. Would your organization be interested in something like that?
4:10 p.m.
Economist, Centre for the Study of Living Standards
I think that would be a fantastic idea. I think it's something that merits looking into.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Lisa Raitt Conservative Milton, ON
Fantastic.
The last question is for the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association.
Maybe you can help me with something. I had a great discussion with my regional council with respect to affordable housing and seniors housing. We did a lot of building in the past together when we funded some seniors units. They told me that they would prefer just to have funds, rather than funds dedicated and telling them to build affordable housing.
Is that something that's happening just in my region, or is the more preferable method of delivery just to give the money and let the decisions be made whether or not to build new stock? Or is there something else going on out there?
I'm trying to figure out whether this is across municipalities or just specific to our region.
4:10 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Housing and Renewal Association
The needs are so great in social housing right now, as I said in my remarks—in rehabilitation and renewal of existing stock, the need for new incremental units, the need to look at some socially innovative ways to get out of operating agreements once they expire—that at this point, most housing providers in Canada would be happy taking “any of the above” by way of funding. Whether it were dedicated in one of those areas or were a more global fund, I don't think there would be any opposition to it. But if there were strings attached, in one of those specific areas identified, there has been no housing provider whom I've talked to who has any concerns with that.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
