So am I. Go Jays!
Evidence of meeting #50 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was aircraft.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #50 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was aircraft.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:25 p.m.
Director, Corporate and Government Affairs, Startup Canada
Exactly.
I think it's a bit of a hybrid approach, to be honest with you. What really sets Startup Canada apart from other organizations and what's really given us our reputation throughout the years is that we work in collaboration. We work in collaboration with support organizations such as BDC. We're part of the key networks although we're not an incubator and accelerator. We're the only non-incubator and accelerator that's part of that network, but most importantly we work with entrepreneurs. Our programs are created in direct response to the demands of entrepreneurs and what they are looking for, what they're requesting, what they need.
In my presentation, I was very clear in indicating that we are here and we are offering our support to the Government of Canada. We have the active base through our entrepreneurship network and we would love to be able to work in conjunction and in partnership with government while bringing in the entrepreneurial voice to make sure that these programs are created in a way that will benefit the end-user rather than just having what an organization might think is the best methodology to support entrepreneurs. A long-winded reply to your question is that it involves a hybrid model including consultations and collaboration, and that's what really sets Startup Canada apart from other organizations.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
That's excellent.
If I have time, I'll have a follow-up question, but I do have a question for Dr. Ahmed.
Thank you for the work you're doing. I have sisters who are health care providers who've worked in northern Ontario, in Timmins or Sioux Lookout, so this is not the first time I'm hearing about some of the problems you've described.
You mentioned in particular that the cost of getting some of these critical drugs set up as security for the supply chain would initially be about $15 million, and I think you said it would take $100 million to guarantee the sovereignty of our supply. Is this a one-time start-up cost for a system that would otherwise be able to self-finance through the production of drugs that it could sell at a commercial scale?
I just want to confirm that you're suggesting that with this one-time investment we could forever secure the sovereignty of our drug supply for these critical drugs.
5:30 p.m.
Physician, Critical Drugs Coalition
Thank you for asking me to clarify.
It would be $50 million for a multi-product sterile injectables facility. The area in which we lack capacity for making things is injectables. Those include most medications used for critical reasons, and for $50 million we could set up a facility. When I talked to the outfit out of the University of Alberta, their plan would be to actually sell these internationally as well so that they could sort of self-finance and self-fund and be sustainable.
Then there are certain things called precursors to drugs. That's another area in which we've had a lot of problems. China seems to have a stranglehold on making these precursors. You often hear about generic drugs being made in India and all over the place, but actually 70% of the precursors to those are made in China. If we were able to spend another $50 million once, we could also set that up and actually have complete sovereignty.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
How close to being ready to go are these projects? If they had money tomorrow, could they start?
5:30 p.m.
Physician, Critical Drugs Coalition
They actually have a Health Canada drug establishment licence. That's pretty much as close as possible.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Sure. Since I have time for the follow-up, Ms. Morano, I'm just wondering with your network how well established you are in the different regions of Canada. If we enter a partnership with your organization, for example, are you plugged into the Atlantic region, into Canada's north and into our more urban centres across the country?
5:30 p.m.
Director, Corporate and Government Affairs, Startup Canada
Absolutely.
Thank you again for the question. We are a national organization with representation from coast to coast to coast. What really sets Startup Canada apart from other organizations is our flagship program, which is our start-up communities. Our start-up communities lay the foundation of really a pan-Canadian infrastructure to accelerate the creation of start-up communities everywhere and to create a robust entrepreneurship landscape. Our programs are rolled out nationally in conjunction with our robust communities from coast to coast to coast, and we're certainly looking to be able to expand upon that. Perhaps with the support of the Government of Canada we can increase our representation across the country.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Thank you.
I will ask my first question to Mr. Norejko. I want to agree with Mr. Julian. We rarely do, but in this case, quite frankly, if the target was the wealthy, all this Liberal government has done is to inflict massive unintended collateral damage on an industry that can't afford it in the middle of a pandemic, especially for $15 million of tax revenue perhaps.
Have you reached out to the government to discuss your concerns about the budget that's been tabled and whether there's perhaps a way of reversing course on this?
5:30 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Business Aviation Association
I appreciate the question. Thank you.
We have done that. In fact, I believe it was the election platform in 2019. There was some language that first came through about luxury tax and specifically about aviation. We initially consulted with government back then and it went away. This most recent sort of resurgence of it is the next component that we've needed to address.
We have reached out. All of the pressures, as relates to COVID, as our colleagues from tourism in Quebec have indicated.... The focus on COVID and building a plan that gets people safely moving again has been critical. However, today there haven't been any substantive discussions with respect to budget. We understand a backgrounder on this luxury tax is expected but there are too many questions in the air. Again, it goes back to that $15 million of potential revenue compared with the cost to the Canadian economy and to jobs across the country. It's too much to bear, frankly.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Thank you.
This is for Dr. Ahmed. You mentioned that the two countries Canada procures most of the critical drugs from are India and China. Have other developed countries experienced similar shortages? I would have assumed they would also be accessing them from the same countries.
5:30 p.m.
Physician, Critical Drugs Coalition
They did. Particular countries that are following and actually recording these kinds of shortages, such as Germany and France, experienced a 60% increase in shortages over the first few months of the pandemic. In fact, our group at the University of Toronto found about three different kinds of responses among high-income countries.
In Europe, they have enough capacity that they were able to make critical drugs domestically. The U.S. did something similar but they actually activated their Defense Production Act. It mandated that everything had to be made in the U.S., and they would not really take over factories but be able to use their capacity in factories. That's what they've done for their vaccines as well.
We're challenged in Canada because we really only have one plant that could make injectables. It's an older plant that doesn't make all the injectables. We're also challenged in that the choke point in the global supply chain is that 70% of the precursors come from China. India probably makes about 20% to 30%. We have more diversity when it comes to the actual drugs, but the precursors themselves have been quite a challenge for a lot of people.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Did we not see this coming? You would assume that the federal government would at some point evaluate and assess its ability to respond to a pandemic or perhaps to some other health-related events.
Did we not see this coming?
5:35 p.m.
Physician, Critical Drugs Coalition
We've had many warning signs. It's been going on for over a decade. In 2012, there actually was a fire in the one plant we have in the country that makes the injectables. That caused massive shortages at that point. There was a similar kind of inquiry and other doctors spoke about having policies in place, but it just seems to be an intractable problem. Hopefully now we can actually put in place the pieces that will solve it, because it keeps happening, over and over.
5:35 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
By the way, I just wanted to express my appreciation for the shout-out to Mr. O'Toole for his support of CANZUK. I'd be interested to hear from you how CANZUK could contribute to a more global approach to this kind of problem.
5:35 p.m.
Physician, Critical Drugs Coalition
For sure, I think it is an interesting proposal that could really increase harmonization in regulations. That's a huge cost for a lot of generic drug companies, dealing with multiple regulatory barriers, paperwork, red tape and stuff. Crossing that can be quite a cost.
5:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Okay, then we'll go to Mr. McLeod.
Following Mr. McLeod, we have an opening for the Conservatives. If you want a question, just raise your hand and I'll pick you up.
Mr. McLeod.
May 25th, 2021 / 5:35 p.m.
Liberal
Michael McLeod Liberal Northwest Territories, NT
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all the presenters today.
My question is for Natasha Hope Morano from Startup Canada. Here in the Northwest Territories, we've had a number of small local businesses successfully pivot to e-commerce during the pandemic. We had a coffee company that started marketing online and another restaurant that started selling their salad dressing. However, for northern businesses, one of the biggest hurdles to expanding further in that field or in that area is the reliability and affordability of high-speed Internet.
Could you talk to us about how important it is that the Government of Canada continue to bring forward measures like the additional $1 billion in this budget for the universal broadband fund to close the digital divide for many people, including northern entrepreneurs.
5:35 p.m.
Director, Corporate and Government Affairs, Startup Canada
Absolutely. Thank you so very much for the question.
I think our CEO, Kayla Isabelle, had the opportunity to meet you a few years ago, pre-pandemic, in one of our Startup Canada global programming stops, so it's nice to see you again.
You raised a very great point, and that is that any additional investment in support for entrepreneurs is a good one, so I am pleased to see that there is an acknowledgement that there needs to be better support for rural and remote entrepreneurs, with connectivity certainly being a big one.
Startup Canada has an important partnership with an organization called Rural on Purpose. That partnership supports us in our advocacy efforts and supports the ecosystem in helping us better understand where the pain points are, perhaps in some of the more northern and rural locations.
I think that when the government looks to this digital adoption piece, the huge investment in getting companies online and creating a robust network of entrepreneur organizations that are digitally competent and digitally sound, there needs to be acknowledgement of and there needs better consultation with the entrepreneurs who are in those locations where it's not as easy as this to have a conversation remotely or to connect with their customers or with their stakeholders, wherever they may be.
While I think it's a great investment, additional support is certainly needed if we want to be able to create a true entrepreneurial robust ecosystem that removes as many hurdles as possible for entrepreneurs to be successful.