Evidence of meeting #35 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was company.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
Thank you, Mr. Dewar.
Mr. Goldring said he had a very short one, so we aren't going into a complete second round, but we do have some time.
10:40 a.m.
Conservative
Peter Goldring Conservative Edmonton East, AB
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for giving me this wonderful opportunity.
10:40 a.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
10:40 a.m.
Conservative
Peter Goldring Conservative Edmonton East, AB
You described very well your doubts about how this bill will impact companies coming through for financing or coming through for your organization, Export Development Canada. I'd like to have your opinion on one other issue that might happen: those are the companies that will not come to your organization, will not come to conventional financiers, because ultimately these rights and issues and charter questions come down to a dollar sign that is very visible. In 30 years of tendering on contracts myself and reading specifications on some major projects, I know full well whether I or somebody else should be bidding on it.
Could this potentially drive some of these companies to do what Canada Steamship did and set up in Barbados or some other country and work with partner countries that would remove their tendering process or businesses out of the country completely, without even coming through the conventional financing? This is or could be potentially a large dollar factor that, as you describe it, will be chilling development, but could it remove these companies from Canada in itself?
10:40 a.m.
Senior Vice-President, Legal Services and Secretary, Export Development Canada
I'll answer very quickly. This one has to be a personal answer, obviously. I believe some companies will choose to locate themselves outside Canada if Canada is the only country that has this type of bill. It's one of the reasons we're looking for a consensus. It's a natural activity.
The TSX has a lot of companies listed on it, but as we know, capital is very easy to flow from one country to another around the world. I think there would be situations where companies would say that the easy route is to set up somewhere else, even if they had decent CSR standards, because then they could apply the standards they know in a way they need to without the chill from this.
10:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
Thank you, Mr. McArdle, for your testimony and for answering all the questions.
We are going to adjourn, and I'm going to ask the steering committee to move across the hall for an in camera meeting to deal with some of the topics we spoke to last week.
We're adjourned.