Industry and Technology Committee on Nov. 19th, 2025

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Thank you, Mr. Ste‑Marie.

Mr. Guglielmin, five minutes go to you.

[Michael Guglielmin, Conservative, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Thank you to the witnesses for your opening testimony.

Ms. Lambert, I'd like to start with you because I believe the quantum platforms of technology are not only super important to industry, but also critical to our national security. Budget 2025 sets aside $334 million over five years under the defence industrial strategy for quantum, starting in 2025-26.

In a previous statement, you said that this was a meaningful step but that outcomes would depend on commercialization, scale and program design. In some of your previous statements, you highlighted three gaps. The first one was a refreshed industry-led quantum strategy. The second was a procurement pathway that moves lab results to real purchases, and third was seeing enough scale to anchor manufacturing and engineering here in Canada. Is that the right short list?

[Lisa Lambert]

It's a good short list, yes.

[Michael Guglielmin, Conservative, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

What changes would an industry-led refresh of the national quantum strategy need and what risks do we face if we delay, say, a year or two?

[Lisa Lambert]

I think the context that the original NQS came out in was quite a different world—just three years ago at that time—and the development of the national quantum strategy, or NQS, at that time was very much led by research in that world.

Since then, things have rapidly shifted over to industrialization, and that's the focus we need to give this. It's around what is needed for industrialization. That's more than just commercialization. Canada is one of the few countries in the world with quantum capabilities. We're one of even fewer countries in the world that has the capabilities or the foundations to have manufacturing of quantum capabilities here.

If you think in the context of Taiwan and what transformed that economy, it was the manufacturing and industrialization of semiconductors. That's the potential that can be here in Canada. We have incredible foundations. We can look over to Quebec, with the microelectronics and the photonics sector over there, and we can look at CPFC. There are talks about that right now, about refurbishing in some other areas.

Those are some key elements that we could be looking at, moving forward. I think it's about having a conversation with our industry that's here today, and with the team, the complement we have, and where we can build on their strengths.

We can't do everything—and I don't think we should be—but we should look at building what we have and really centring around where the puck is going for this. That's really the industry space, with research coming in to support that. It's not that we've solved all the science challenges to go forward. We do need research involved, but it needs to be from an industry-led perspective.

[Michael Guglielmin, Conservative, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Some of the venture capital measures in budget 2025 only begin in 2026-27 and beyond. The quantum line starts in 2025-26. I'm just wondering if the timing gap causes any acute issues. What should be on our radar with the timing gap between the two mechanisms for funding?

[Lisa Lambert]

Urgency needs to be on the timing gap. Every day, I see new announcements coming out, from our allies and our adversaries alike, about how much they're prioritizing quantum. Just today, there was a U.S. commission on China that put forward a quantum-first national goal by the year 2030.

This is will have ripple effects across the globe and will really start showing who is not putting forward demand signals for this now. We see different countries actively reaching into their ecosystems to pull capabilities forward to deployment because they are so valuable. Having those as sovereign capabilities is so valuable to those nations as well because this really is going to be the next technology platform that's pervasive in everything we do.

[Michael Guglielmin, Conservative, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

You've also noted that our current scale in budget 2025 appears well below our peer countries, something you just mentioned a moment ago. What does scale mean in practical terms for Canada over, say, the next five years? How should government express that scale in a multi-year planning strategy?

[Lisa Lambert]

I think a multi-year strategy would be really helpful to have going forward. Just to set a vision, I would look at a five- or 10-year vision for this, looking at where we are actually seeking to go with this. Then, we can go back and say what would have to be true and could plan our investments accordingly. For a number, I can give a range within that, but we can qualify that range quite easily, and we could also de-risk that range considerably.

If we point things towards quantum with advanced manufacturing, it will also benefit what we call classical capabilities or conventional technologies and will help us be at the front edge with that. If we aim towards quantum, we'll actually pull all of our frontier technology sector forward together. It will benefit AI. It will benefit photonics. It will benefit our semiconductor capabilities as well. It can be a really smart, holistic investment that comes together on this side, but some thoughtful planning would be really helpful.

[Michael Guglielmin, Conservative, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Thank you, Mr. Guglielmin.

Ms. Acan, go ahead for five minutes.

[Sima Acan, Liberal, Oakville West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Foster, in my riding of Oakville West, we have several advanced aerospace manufacturers. From your perspective, how does concentrating specialist manufacturing in specific regions strengthen the integrated supply chain and create economies of scale?

[Richard Foster]

Could you just repeat that question? I'm sorry.

[Sima Acan, Liberal, Oakville West, ON]

From your perspective, do you see the value of having concentrated specialist manufacturing in certain regions? Would that help strengthen the integrated supply chain and help create economies around the area?

[Richard Foster]

I think does. We've seen that in Montreal, and I think we've seen that in Ontario as well, in that cluster in the OAC. We work with them often. I think you just save time, and you have a lot of synergy with the industry working together in a close region.

[Sima Acan, Liberal, Oakville West, ON]

Thank you.

Building on that, a skilled workforce is also critical for scaling these operations. Could concentrating manufacturing plants geographically help to also maintain a robust pool of trained experts and professionals?

[Richard Foster]

Of course. I think of the relationship between business and universities, for example. I know we do that for WESCAM, where we actually recruit from Mohawk College on a regular basis. I think that really helps in terms of incentivizing students to learn early and to create that community involvement where businesses are working to incentivize new talent.

[Sima Acan, Liberal, Oakville West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Foster.

Ms. Lambert, we were just discussing budget 2025, which introduced significant funding for quantum technologies, and the government is also preparing to launch Canada's first defence industrial strategy later this year. From your answer regarding the urgency of the funding, I understand that you are also happy that we were able to pass the budget and that we won't go to the polls during Christmas, which is money saving and time saving.

From an engineering perspective, how do you assess these initiatives in terms of positioning Canada as a leader in quantum technologies for defence and dual-use applications?

Also, within this strategy, do you see the role of quantum engineering evolving, particularly in developing the talent, the infrastructure and the technical capabilities needed for the industrial-scale development?

[Lisa Lambert]

Just so I understand the question, can you share what you mean by quantum engineering?

[Sima Acan, Liberal, Oakville West, ON]

How do you assess the initiatives that are coming with the budget in terms of positioning Canada as a leader of quantum technologies for defence and dual-use applications?

[Lisa Lambert]

Having quantum recognized under the defence industrial strategy was something we were very happy to see. When you look at all other leading countries in this space, they're driving this forward from the defence side. This is a very good first step to see, and we're very encouraged.

Within that, as I mentioned before, when we look at the scales of investment, there is a bit of a mismatch here, and we look at our global peers in this. There is a cost to do this. A lot of this is the deepest of deep tech. It is hardware-intensive for some of it, and we do have these hardware strengths, which I really hope Canada can keep because there's a lot of value in it, and it will underpin systems globally on that side. However, seeing the direction of this move under defence is a very encouraging signal.

[Sima Acan, Liberal, Oakville West, ON]

What specific initiatives should the DIS implement to develop and retain skilled engineers and technical professionals in quantum technologies, ensuring that Canada has the workforce to support industrial-scale development and deployment?

[Lisa Lambert]

A big part of retaining people is for them to see a future here in the sector and to see a growing and thriving sector. Supporting our SMEs and giving them the supports they need to become anchor companies and to scale up and grow is a key part of that. That will involve procurement. That will involve having some predictability and some demand signals going forward.

Those are some things we can move towards in terms of having all the conditions that are needed to industrialize and grow a sector from a nascent state.

[Sima Acan, Liberal, Oakville West, ON]

Thank you very much.

Do I have more time, Mr. Chair?