Industry Committee on Feb. 10th, 2009

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Those are very short- or nearer-term measures. We should be looking at some of Mr. Wilson's recommendations for the longer term. I guess that's my point.

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

I would just say that these are all long-term measures. They will have a long-term impact on our ability to invest and to have a good marketplace.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

My final point is on the Genome Canada question, because a lot of us are talking about it here today.

Genome Canada did very well in leveraging moneys from the private sector and the investment community. As opposed to the great money you've put into the granting councils—which I think is very, very positive for innovation and our future development as a country, as it really puts money into university-driven projects—on Genome Canada, I was quite concerned when I saw no new funding. I appreciate there is money in the budget for continued funding that was previously announced.

I would suggest to the Minister, Mr. Chair, that this is a concern, because what it means is that Genome Canada has no new moneys available to do new rounds of calls for proposals. This is the concern, not what is existing today, but into the future. It's an important message that I think we need to communicate, especially to the world, that we are continuing to move towards an innovative culture in this country and an innovative business community.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Very briefly, Mr. Minister, do you have anything to add to that?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

No, I think we'll keep going.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Minister, and thank you, Ms. Coady.

We're now on to Mr. Warkentin, and then Mr. Bouchard and Monsieur Vincent.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

Thank you very much, I appreciate that. Thank you for this round of questioning.

Mr. Minister, we've been around several issues time and time again. I just want an opportunity to share with you the concerns that I'm hearing from my constituency as they pertain to BDC—not that there is not a necessity to reduce red tape, as was indicated, in terms of the ability to access the funding. Certainly, people want BDC to act like a commercial lender and want to ensure that due diligence is done, and the rest of it.

The concern raised by constituents of mine was, in particular, that BDC's mandate was more to invest in infrastructure and capital assets than in ongoing business activity, such as lines of credit for businesses and different things. Is that a concern that you've heard of from other places? I know that BDC is considering a possible change—and we may be moving into somebody else's purview here—but are you aware of any specifics of what BDC is undertaking to address some of these concerns?

[Richard Dicerni]

No, but I will take it under advisement.

I believe that you will be meeting shortly with the chair.

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Yes.

[Richard Dicerni]

If you have specifics, perhaps they could be passed on and you could raise them with Mr. MacNaughton.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

I'd appreciate that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

That's great.

Mr. Lake has an additional question.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

I wanted to go back to aerospace, particularly Bombardier. There were more questions in the House again today on Bombardier. We recognize that when someone loses a job, regardless of circumstances, it's troublesome and stressful, and these are difficult times for a lot of families. But I want to make sure that we have the facts straight on Bombardier. I heard a question in the House today talking about 1,300 layoffs. I don't believe that's the accurate number here in Canada. I know that there's more to this story. I think the reports in the media talked not only about job losses, but also about some potential new positions being created by Bombardier. Maybe you could give us a clearer picture.

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Yes, 1,360 is across the whole board, including Wichita, Kansas, and Belfast. You're right to question that. The number of permanent employees affected in the region of Montreal was 210, and there were 500 temporary workers who were affected, for a total of 710 out of the 1,360. But at the same time, Bombardier announced 730 new permanent posts. So they've lost 210 permanent posts, but they gained 730 permanent posts that will be used on their new jet plane programs. No one likes to lose jobs, and certainly the region of Montreal has had its fair share of suffering in this regard, but there's also a silver lining in this cloud, and we should take this into account as well.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

We've talked a lot about science and technology and the importance of some of the organizations' granting councils. I want to talk about the bigger picture, about the science and technology strategy released in 2007. It's relevant to that long-term track that I was talking about earlier. Science and technology is going to be important in maintaining our position globally. Perhaps you could sum up some of the steps that the government has taken in this area.

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Let me just make sure that I get them all in. There's a whole bunch. There's an additional Canada graduate scholarship program in Budget 2009, which will make available about $87.5 million. There will be more graduate internships through the industrial research and development internship program, and there's $3.5 million for that. We've talked about the $2 billion to support deferred maintenance and repair projects, and also new projects, in colleges and universities. And there's the $750 million for the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Those are the ones that come to mind, and they show that this is a positive budget for science and technology.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Mr. Bouchard and Mr. Vincent, you have the floor.

[Robert Bouchard, Bloc, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I would like to come back to the question of Rio Tinto Alcan. Eighteen months after Rio Tinto acquired Alcan, Rio Tinto is to be reviewed by Industry Canada.

How will that review proceed? How long will it last, and what will it cover? Will Industry Canada officials travel to London, where the head office is? Will the London managers come here, to Ottawa, to meet with Industry Canada officials and answer their questions? How will it proceed?

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

I have only been the minister for a short time. Perhaps Mr. Boothe could answer the question.

[Prof. Paul Boothe, Senior Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Industry]

Thank you for the question.

Normally what we see is that when we are discussing Investment Canada Act cases, company executives come to Canada for those discussions. Often, of course, we have telephone conference calls and that kind of thing, but almost always we end up with face-to-face meetings between officials and company executives in Canada as we negotiate and learn about their undertakings.

Of course, our role is to provide the minister with information so he can make his judgment about whether a transaction will be a net benefit to Canada. We're very constrained by the Investment Canada Act as to how much we can say about individual transactions. So mostly what we have to do is talk about the process, because the information is protected by the act and often is commercially sensitive. But it is clear that in almost all cases I have been involved with since being appointed director of investments for the Investment Canada Act, they result in face-to-face meetings, and usually a number of meetings, here in Canada.

[Robert Bouchard, Bloc, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

What would happen if Rio Tinto was not in compliance with Industry Canada’s conditions? Would there be penalties? What measures could Industry Canada take, or what power does Industry Canada have?

[Prof. Paul Boothe]

Again, thank you for your question.

The Investment Canada Act gives the Minister of Industry fairly strong powers with respect to the undertakings any company gives, and these undertakings are monitored at regular intervals by Industry Canada officials.

I will not claim to have the full legal definitions here. I'll certainly provide those to you, but basically, if the companies are not respecting the undertakings they've provided to the minister, there are very strong legal sanctions that can be employed in order to incent them to respect the undertakings they have given.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

You have one minute left.

[Robert Bouchard, Bloc, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Is the outcome of that review made public or is it confidential?

[Paul Boothe]

Under the Investment Canada Act, all these discussions remain confidential unless the company authorizes Investment Canada Act officials or the minister to discuss them. However, if they result in legal proceedings, certainly those are not confidential. Those take place in open court.