Evidence of meeting #160 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was canada's.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
Canada has the second-largest reserves, and nobody wants to talk about investing in our industry. Is that correct?
Vice-President, Strategy and Delivery, Canadian Gas Association
It's not nobody, but it's a challenging proposition.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
At the beginning, you said that Canada wasn't discussed, so it's pretty marginal, then. The international investment community is not particularly interested in the second-largest reserve jurisdiction. Is that fair?
Vice-President, Strategy and Delivery, Canadian Gas Association
That is correct.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
What are some of the reasons the international investment community would not be interested in investing in the open country with the second-largest proven reserve?
Vice-President, Strategy and Delivery, Canadian Gas Association
The reasons are fairly well documented and understood. They date back a while and include cost overruns, permitting delays, approval processes—
Vice-President, Strategy and Delivery, Canadian Gas Association
Regulation is always going to be an issue.
Conservative
Vice-President, Strategy and Delivery, Canadian Gas Association
I wouldn't say that necessarily.
It is not just in Canada but around the world that the environmental permitting process has increased in complexity. Canada stands out as an area that has some particular issues it needs to solve in that regard, and I think that contributes to my comments.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
Some of the problems are international, yet investors are talking about, and making investments in, other jurisdictions, and not Canada.
Vice-President, Strategy and Delivery, Canadian Gas Association
It's not strictly a regulatory issue. It's a market access issue. The U.S. Gulf Coast, for example, has quick access to many global markets.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
That's right, so what would give Canada better market access?
Vice-President, Strategy and Delivery, Canadian Gas Association
A vision for the country would do that.
We have yet to encapsulate what we want to be on LNG, for example. There are different opinions about the opportunity for LNG. I don't think there's a cohesive narrative on that, and investors look for narratives—
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
The Prime Minister of Canada said there's no business case for LNG. If you disagree with that characterization, this is a great opportunity for you to say so and to be clear with this committee about whether or not there is a business case for LNG and whether there could be under the right regulation or political will or what it would take to make that business case.
Vice-President, Strategy and Delivery, Canadian Gas Association
We have several LNG projects with permits and under construction on Canada's west coast, so the industry is evolving and moving forward.
There's always more we could do. Canada's east coast does present some challenging economics to exporting LNG from there. That statement around the economics of LNG as it pertains to Canada's east coast does hold some validity.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
What about the west coast? Why is the community worldwide not stepping up to invest in Canadian infrastructure on that coast?
Vice-President, Strategy and Delivery, Canadian Gas Association
It is. The challenge we're seeing is with the large pipeline that connects the current LNG Canada project. It had some cost overruns that were seen by the investment community. When there are cost overruns or permit issues on projects, the investment community will take note of that.
October 24th, 2024 / 4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Yvan Baker Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Thanks very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you to all our witnesses for being here.
These are fascinating insights on a range of topics. I'm sorry I won't be able to ask all of you questions, but thank you for your contributions and for taking the time to be with us today to offer your insights. I appreciate that.
I'm going to start with Ms. Walker. For the folks who are watching at home, or my constituents who might be watching this exchange or reading some of this testimony, or even for the report that we end up writing for the Minister of Finance, can you explain “work-integrated learning”?
Chief Executive Officer, Business-Higher Education Roundtable
That's a really good question. It's not one that has the same answer that I would have given you 10 years ago. It is, for most people, the idea of a co-op placement or an internship. It's an opportunity for students to get some exposure to how work works before they finish school.
What we've learned, especially through the pandemic, is about the variety of experiences for students that are valuable to them and for employers. It's especially valuable to small and medium-sized companies that may not be able to afford a four-month traditional structured work experience or have many opportunities to engage with students. They understand the value students can bring to their businesses through, for example, smaller applied research projects or a hackathon in which a bunch of students participate and solve one particular issue.
We pride ourselves at BHER in continuing to work with employers to broaden the number of things we would define as work-integrated learning, as long as they provide value to the students and employers.
Liberal
Yvan Baker Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Can you help me understand what role you play in that? Why is it that this doesn't just happen naturally? Why don't companies create these opportunities, or why don't young people find them, or a combination of both, on their own, without your assistance?
Chief Executive Officer, Business-Higher Education Roundtable
There are a couple of things I would say to that.
One, we initially thought what was needed was some kind of matching platform. It should be obvious. We have students who need work experience and we have employers who need students. That's it. If we create a platform, they'll find each other. Emphatically, we have proven over the last five years that this is not enough.
The need for curated partnership development is key. Our data supports that. We can provide some of the broad resources that make it easier for companies to find and create quality experiences, but we need partners, working at the regional and local levels, that best understand their particular local labour market needs and that are the best positioned to execute on the specific needs of those communities. We support them and build capacity for them to provide those experiences locally.
Liberal
Yvan Baker Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
What I hear you saying is that you're helping small and medium-sized businesses that may not otherwise have the capacity, the expertise and the experience to organize this or to structure these opportunities, and you help structure it for them. Am I right? Is that fair?
Chief Executive Officer, Business-Higher Education Roundtable
That's right.
At this point I would ask my colleague Matthew to provide a bit of colour to that and to expand on what we actually do with the funding we receive.
