Finance Committee on Feb. 19th, 2016

Evidence of meeting #7 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was infrastructure.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Pre-budget consultations 2016

MPs speaking

Wayne Easter

Robert-Falcon Ouellette

Also speaking

Ian Lee Assistant Professor, Carleton University, As an Individual

Ken Kobly President and Chief Executive Officer, Alberta Chambers of Commerce

Sylvain Schetagne Associate Executive Director, Canadian Association of University Teachers

Karen R. Cohen Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Psychological Association

Manuel Arango Director, Health Policy and Advocacy, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada

Richard Koss President, Hunter Wire Products Ltd.

Clerk of the Committee Ms. Suzie Cadieux

Karna Gupta President and Chief Executive Officer, Information Technology Association of Canada

Bernard Dussault Former Chief Actuary of Canada, As an Individual

Wendy Zatylny President, Association of Canadian Port Authorities

Claire Citeau Executive Director, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance

Alexandre Laurin Director of Reseach, C.D. Howe Institute

Jeff Lehman Mayor, City of Barrie, and Chair, Large Urban Mayors' Caucus of Ontario

11 a.m.

President, Association of Canadian Port Authorities

Wendy Zatylny

That was a federal government decision when it devolved the various ports and harbours. There were an original 17—now 18—that were considered of strategic significance and were devolved into port authorities, which are shared governance organizations related to the federal government. The federal government at the time made the decision to allow the Port of Churchill to go private.

11 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

I'll have to cut you off there, Mr. Ouellette.

I do have to ask one question to Mr. Gupta.

How difficult is it to get to the so-called last mile? There are a number of us here from rural areas. What we're finding in rural areas is that we are losing endless business opportunities because we don't have the broadband for those businesses to operate in the modern world. I see the information highway as being as important as the railway was at one point in time.

How difficult or expensive is it to get to that so-called last mile, if I could put it that way?

February 19th, 2016 / 11 a.m.

President and Chief Executive Officer, Information Technology Association of Canada

Karna Gupta

Thank you for the question.

In today's environment it should not be that difficult because the satellite transmission and the wireless side has come down, particularly if you start looking at the next generation 5G network. Today, most networks in Canada can only transfer 400 megabytes at high speed. When you go to 5G, you're talking about 10 gigabytes or a terabyte level of movement. Those networks' costs are coming down, and that's why we're starting to look at investing in next generation networks.

Also, as you invest in physical infrastructure—I hear this when I talk to the P3 people working on private-public partnerships—every time there is construction going on, laying the fibre in the ground along with it should be almost mandatory. If you're making holes and digging for pipes and roads, put a fibre down as it happens. Reaching that last mile is a lot easier now. Cost has come down tremendously and satellite transmissions are also cheaper nowadays to reach extremely remote areas.

11 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter

Thank you very much for that information.

I'd like to thank the witnesses. This has been a very productive morning in terms of information. I wish you all the best.

The committee will reconvene at 12:30 p.m. in Room 253-D. Grab a bite to eat in the lobby, or you'll go hungry.

Thank you all. The meeting is adjourned.