Evidence of meeting #136 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was productivity.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Ryan Williams Conservative Bay of Quinte, ON
Does that follow competition bureaus, let's say, in the U.S. or Australia? Are they independent or are they like Canada's? Is Canada an outlier?
Exective Director, Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project
I don't know if we're an outlier. It's difficult to compare. The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice in the U.S. are direct political appointees. The Federal Trade Commission has a commission structure that is explicitly political. It will have so many Democrats and so many Republicans.
Whether Canada truly is an outlier, I'm not sure, but we do have a model under which it is not a truly independent body.
Conservative
Ryan Williams Conservative Bay of Quinte, ON
We talked about the tribunal. A concern the NDP raised, and rightly so, was that the tribunal overruled the Competition Bureau, and the Competition Bureau had to pay for it in terms of legal fees.
Currently the tribunal too much power concentrated over Canada's competition law and it struggles to get decisions out the door. Both situations have become worse as cases have become more frequent, as was noted by the Chamber of Commerce.
What's the remedy for that? What are we missing, in terms of the tribunal, and what do we need to do to fix that?
Exective Director, Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project
As we enter a new generation of competition law in Canada, I think we need to look at the institutions—both the bureau and the tribunal. If the tribunal is going to be dealing with more cases under a more active law, we need to think about whether it needs more resources or if we need a fundamentally different structure. There are a number of alternative models in that regard. I think that's the next topic we really need to dive into.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, MP Williams. Now we'll go to MP Thompson for two minutes.
Liberal
Joanne Thompson Liberal St. John's East, NL
Thank you.
Mr. Melo, how are recent political policy decisions, such as the lengthy renewable energy moratorium in Alberta or the attempts to shift frameworks like the federal carbon pricing regime, increasing uncertainty for new projects across Canada?
Federal Policy Director, Canadian Renewable Energy Association
I can say that a lot of international players are starting to be a little hesitant to invest in Canada, given the recent changes to various provincial regimes as well as a lot of uncertainty around key market drivers for the renewables industry.
That said, there are other efforts with the investment tax credits and the positive signals coming out of provinces like British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, where we are seeing open markets, so even though we are seeing some hesitancy overall, we are seeing capital flow from some provinces to others.
Liberal
Joanne Thompson Liberal St. John's East, NL
Thank you.
The wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine. I'm from Newfoundland, so I know that. That's why storage technologies like batteries are so important for the clean electrical grid. We know that grid-scale batteries store power and deploy during off-peak times. I'm wondering how the ITCs are going to unlock investments in batteries.
Federal Policy Director, Canadian Renewable Energy Association
I'm very excited for my members who are developing storage projects across the country. Simply put, you're actually making them a lot more bankable, so you can go to your large capital providers and say, “We have at least some guaranteed upfront return” and therefore you are able to provide capital.
Previously, there was some uncertainty with insurance and capital providers, as these projects are relatively new in the Canadian context. Having ITCs has really helped bring some ease to our capital providers going forward.
One of the really interesting things is that they're allowing what were financial edge cases—such as hybrid wind and solar systems with a battery behind the meter—to essentially extend the sunshine, so they are becoming more and more bankable and something that can go forward.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, MP Thompson.
Now we go to MP Ste-Marie. Go ahead, please.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Poirier-Monette, I would like you to explain to us once again why it's important to introduce a credit for experienced travellers. I also invite you to make any further remarks you may wish to the committee.
Special Advisor, Government Relations, Réseau FADOQ
Thank you very much for your question.
There's a labour shortage across Canada. We think it would be appropriate to introduce an experienced traveller tax credit. Quebec has one, and it amounts to $1,600 per year for persons 65 years of age and over, and I believe it's about $1,400 for those 60 to 65. This is a tax matter that has proven itself effective.
The government committed to introducing this kind of tax measure during the last election campaign. We think it would be appropriate to implement it. According to a poll recently conducted by the Conseil du patronat du Québec, experienced workers felt that tax measures and incentives were a factor that promoted job retention. Half of respondents said it was a critical factor in their decision. We therefore think it would be appropriate to implement this sort of measure.
I also think it would be worthwhile to discuss housing in the present circumstances. The Canadian and Quebec governments recently funded an initiative involving the Mission Unitaînés organization to construct 10 100‑unit buildings for low-income seniors.
We think that this is an appropriate initiative and that there should be many more like it because there is very little diversity in collective living environments for seniors. I believe we should consider building housing for people living on very low incomes. It would be a very appropriate project.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, MP Ste-Marie.
Now it's over to our final questioner, MP Davies.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thank you.
Mr. Bester, what industries or sectors have seen the most concerning concentration over the last 40 years?
Exective Director, Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project
That's a good question.
I don't know if I know the most concerning ones, but one I always come back to as the foundation of the economy is the banking sector. I think that in the past 20 years we have acted to preserve at least some competition there.
When I think about a market that feeds the rest of the economy, I think a competitive banking sector is one of the most important ones, if not the most important.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Okay.
Do you happen to know what the win record of the bureau is in challenging anti-competition cases?
Exective Director, Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project
It's an interesting question, depending on your definition of a win. We have never truly blocked a merger in Canada.
Exective Director, Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project
Never.
Again, going back to the remedy point made earlier, we don't like to block mergers; we like to cook up solutions that we think will preserve competition, so the win record is quite poor. When we do launch challenges, wins are few and far between.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thank you.
Mr. Melo, I'm going to squeeze in a question here.
You commented that the tax credits will accelerate wind, solar and energy storage deployment across the country.
Can you paint me a picture of what the landscape may look like 10 years from now as a result of these tax credits?
Federal Policy Director, Canadian Renewable Energy Association
I think what you're going to see, in more and more calls for power, are lower-cost renewables coming in and working with existing generation fleets that are on track to accelerate our deployment. You're going to see us start to hit our generation targets as a country and see a lot more employment here in Canada across the sector.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
We want to thank the excellent witnesses who were with us today. Thank you for your testimony. We wish you the best with the rest of your day.
At this time, we are going to suspend as we transition to our next panel members.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
We're ready to go here, everybody. Make your way to your seats.
With us for our panel before we head off to question period are, from the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Angella MacEwen, senior economist; from the C.D. Howe Institute, William Robson, chief executive officer; from Fintechs Canada, Alexander Vronces, executive director; and from Mouvement autonome et solidaire des sans-emploi, Fanny Labelle, administrator, board of directors.
We will start with opening remarks from the Canadian Union of Public Employees.