Government Operations Committee on Oct. 6th, 2011

[Shereen Benzvy Miller]

I'll look at the figures. In the first call for proposals, 72 submissions came from Quebec, whereas there were 78 in the second call for proposals. For the first round, the percentage of submissions from Quebec was 19%, but it was 23% for the second call for proposals. In proportional terms, considering the distribution on the basis of 100,000 businesses, for example, we see that the distribution by province was more or less good. Obviously, however, we're using those figures to create greater awareness and to try to reach out to more businesses in order to get them interested in the program.

[Denis Blanchette, NDP, Louis-Hébert, QC]

That was the purpose of my question.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

I'm afraid we're well over time. Thank you.

Next, for the Conservatives, Mr. Scott Armstrong.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

I want to thank the witnesses for their presentation.

I think this is quite exciting. I can tell that you're excited about this, and I'm sure you'll be back again in two years asking for more money to continue this type of project.

[Shereen Benzvy Miller]

Will I have to wait for two years?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

I don't think you'd ever wait for anything, quite frankly.

I have a couple of process questions. You send out a request for proposals. How do you promote this program? We mentioned there were some areas that might have had more proposals come in and that some areas had less. How do you promote this nationwide?

[Shereen Benzvy Miller]

We promote it any way we can think of. We use websites. We use other people's websites. We put out material. We go to trade shows. We go anywhere we're invited to talk about it.

That's why I'm delighted to tell all of you, because I'm sure you'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends. So don't kid yourself, I'm doing outreach right now.

It's about maximizing the outreach we can do through six regional offices and promoting it through any means we can.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

As MPs, we often have people come to our offices with ideas. An example of one that's come to me is Atlantic Combustion Technologies. They don't qualify for this program because they've already commercialized. They developed a chemical additive product that makes fuel burn more efficiently. It burns hotter and cleaner, so it's good for greenhouse gas emissions. They're trying to market to bigger utilities—Nova Scotia Power, and companies like that across the country, and the eastern seaboard of the United States. They've got a lot of data, a lot of background. They've established that the product works, but it's pretty innovative. It's a new thing, and they haven't got anybody to be first. Nobody wants to be the first to buy into this.

If that comes to one of us, or it comes to a community, could that be the type of project that might be referred to this program in the earlier stage?

[Shereen Benzvy Miller]

Yes, absolutely. One of the things we try to do is to help companies figure out when this program fits into their journey of commercialization.

We do it also by working with the various incubators across the country, and working with ACOA, WED, BDC, and all the agencies and organizations that help early-stage development companies, to help them figure out where we fit and to know about the program.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Again, on the private side of things, very often nobody wants to be the first to try a new product or a new innovation. Why would you change when everything has always worked before? You really are a bridge to try to overcome that hurdle, especially the smaller companies starting out—a single-product company.

Do you see this project expanding? Depending on the results after you do your assessment after the two-year pilot project, do you see this as a program that could expand, that it could be a larger program to increase innovation?

[Shereen Benzvy Miller]

It's a supplier-driven program. We're not doing the usual government demand pull, we're asking for supplier push. It's really about how responsive the industry is and we will be responsive to their enthusiasm.

The truth is that one of the things that happens in a program like this is that it changes the nature of procurement. Historically procurement is about the government defining its need rather than asking suppliers for solutions to government problems.

This is a wide-open procurement that says bring us your untried ideas and let's give it a shot. That's why Brett Wilson's quote is an interesting one. He says the difference between success and not success is somebody believing in you. It gives companies that one-option opportunity to get the Government of Canada behind their product.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

I have one more question. How has your uptake from departments been? Have some departments been better advocates than others? This is the eHarmony stage we're talking about that you called it. How is your relationship with the departments? Do you have to go beat down their doors to get them to try these things? How does that work?

[Shereen Benzvy Miller]

We're doing a lot of outreach with departments the way we do with suppliers so that they can become familiar with this program, because it's new to them also. This is a whole new way of getting things into the fold. So we're doing a lot of outreach and we've had really unmitigated enthusiasm from departments. Over time it's one of the performance measures we're going to be reporting on: how well we integrated with government business. It is about making the government more efficient and making government business more innovative. So that's a success measure too.

So far, I have to say I'm very optimistic, although we are only one year in and we haven't really started the testing. The enthusiasm for being testers and for matching is why close to 27 of the 27 innovations we currently have pre-qualified have been matched. Those are the numbers I have, which speak for themselves.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, NDP, Pat Martin]

Right on time, Scott. Thank you very much.

For the NDP, Alexandre Boulerice.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Unless I'm mistaken, earlier you said that your American counterparts had thousands of employees and a budget of $842 million. I get the impression that we don't have the wherewithal to provide our SMEs with the equivalent in order to help them promote innovation.

When I read your report, I was surprised at the total budget, which is only $40 million. I admit that the idea is a good one. However, if you draw a comparison with our American neighbours, you realize that the ratio is two to one. So we are making half the effort they're making based on our respective populations.

We've also established a maximum of 20 projects per year.

[Shereen Benzvy Miller]

In fact, it's a minimum of 20 projects.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

It will be at least 20 projects; is that correct?

[Shereen Benzvy Miller]

Yes. The budget states that the minimum will be set at 20 projects during the program's pilot project. We already exceeded that minimum in the first call.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

How many projects do you have right now?

[Shereen Benzvy Miller]

In the context of the first call, 27 projects are pre-qualified.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

It wasn't 25?

[Shereen Benzvy Miller]

No, it was 27 projects.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

All right.

I checked, and there are slightly more than 1.6 million SMEs in Canada. But we're talking about 27 projects. Do you think that's enough?

Would you like to see the program, which is only in its first year of existence, grow and catch up to that of our American neighbours?