Industry Committee on Nov. 27th, 2012

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

All right.

Mr. Blanchette has the floor for five minutes.

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

Thank you kindly, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses. Finally, we get a chance to speak with representatives from the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec. That's pretty rare.

There is one thing I'd like to know about the budget cuts. The government is ordering you to tighten your belt. You are forced to cancel programs, close offices, ensure value for money and so forth. In response to that order, have you prepared a business plan, a strategic framework or some comprehensive document?

I am picking up on the questions Mr. Wallace and Mr. Regan asked, but from a different angle perhaps. Do you have a strategic plan or anything of that sort outlining how you intend to respond to the government's requests and what your plans are for the next few years? It may be a document indicating how many positions will be cut, how many programs will be scaled back, what the effects of the cuts are, that kind of thing.

Do you currently have something like that in place?

[Thao Pham]

Mr. Chair, I can answer Mr. Blanchette's question.

As the minister mentioned, last year, we renewed the Quebec Economic Development Program on April 1, 2012. So we really refocussed our efforts on the priorities of the government and the agency, jobs and the economy.

Every year, we carry out an exercise that is published in the Report on Plans and Priorities. Further to that exercise, we identify the agency's priorities.

If I may, I will tell you a bit about our priorities for this year.

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

I read the Report on Plans and Priorities. What I am looking for is the big picture. In his statement, the minister already gave us a sense of the measures that have been put in place. They involve simplifying programs and accountability, reducing processing times and reorganizing internal departments. As parliamentarians, we want to know more, about how you will go about each of those initiatives, how you will make those decisions, for example. We need something published so we can monitor all of that.

What's more—and this is a two-part question—you are reducing programs. You're getting rid of some that were temporary. That's well and good. According to the minister's statement, every $1 invested generates $2.33 in other investment. It might be a good idea to calculate the drop in economic activity arising from the drop in program investment.

In any case, I would like you to answer both parts of my question in the same order they were put, please.

[Thao Pham]

As my colleague, Ms. Perreault, mentioned, you can find information on proposed measures on our Web site. That would be the first place for the members of the committee to look. If, after that, it was necessary to answer further questions, perhaps we could come before the committee again.

As for the impact of investments, I would have to check our ongoing funding. I will take your point into consideration. For the time being, we evaluate programs on a five-year basis. We will check whether an impact has been felt or not.

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

From what I gather, then, you do not yet know the impact, but you want to examine all that and advise the committee members afterwards.

[Thao Pham]

It will be part of our program evaluation plan. Right now, we have a grants and contributions program for economic development for the Quebec region. It will be included in our plan. We will assess the short- and long-term impacts.

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

If we're missing information, can we send you a question in writing or will you come before the committee again? That's important to know.

By the way, I have a brief message for you. Earlier, my colleagues were discussing information provided to members. Since you are cutting staff size and consolidating offices for greater efficiency, it might be worthwhile to send some information to members when you launch a program, information on the program objectives, criteria and so forth. Who knows better than a member which businesses in his or her riding would benefit from a program? I think that might be a wise move.

When I hear that funding for certain programs has lapsed, in these fragile economic times, I am really troubled. I think more can be done to publicize programs. Being proactive and giving MPs information on programs might be to your benefit.

[Thao Pham]

I will take note of your comment. Thank you.

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

Do I have time left?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you very much, Mr. Blanchette. You went way over, but I gave you some latitude because of the....

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Mr. Wallace, you have five minutes.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Just following up on Denis' last point, one of the key roles of one of my staff members is to go through every department and look for programs that may be useful to those in my riding. They don't do it every day, but they do look, because I don't rely on the departments to let me know. It's my job as a member of Parliament to find out to let people know. It's just how everyone does their job differently, but I appreciate it.

There's lots of information on everybody's websites, to be frank with you. Every department does a very good job of using that tool. As members of Parliament, we need to be more proactive in looking at that.

The question I have for you is on your plans and priorities for this particular year. Can you tell me how many FTEs the agency has?

[Thao Pham]

This year, I think.... I will ask my colleague. I think it's 352.

[Luce Perreault]

According to the Report on Plans and Priorities, 359 are planned for 2012-13.

Does that answer your question, Mr. Wallace?

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Yes.

Does that stay steady, or does it reduce over the next couple of years?

[Luce Perreault]

As the Report on Plans and Priorities also shows, we intend to reduce our workforce over the next three years. As Mr. Lebel mentioned, that is mainly due to temporary programs coming to an end and to the government's decision on administrative services. For instance, the creation of Shared Services Canada means that some of our employees will move to that organization. There is also the operating budget freeze. So we will manage payroll in accordance with collective agreements.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

Are you on target to meet those goals for this year?

[Luce Perreault]

Yes.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

My other question is about business development and the role of economic agencies.

You're in different industries, from tourism to manufacturing. You're all over the place. Is there a set of criteria that you use to evaluate whether a business is going to be successful? I don't think we expect a financial return in terms of a part of the action or a part of the profits or anything, but we do expect a return in jobs and other economic development activity.

How do you evaluate whether a business deserves taxpayers' money or not? Are there criteria that you use?

[Thao Pham]

Absolutely. We assess each of the projects submitted to our agency in a very rigorous way and use the same set of criteria for businesses or for non-profit organizations, for example, in support to businesses. We would look at the expected outcomes and results of a project, both in terms of the potential economic benefits and the economic value of the project. That would be one of the criteria, for example.

The other one would be to look at how viable the project is. Is it sound? Does it have, let's say, a management committee with the capacity to deliver that project? That is another part of it.

The other thing is that in some cases we would look at previous results or the past experience of that organization or business. That would give us a sign of the track record of that company.

Of course, our mandate is really to support businesses and non-profit organizations in support to businesses, but we do it in a very rigorous way so that we are able to assess which projects would be best to invest in.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

On that point, how do you determine...? Let's say that I'm a start-up or that I'm relatively new compared with somebody who's been in the business 15 years, but I need to expand. These businesses have different histories. How do you proceed? Is there a team that looks at it? How do you determine whether it's worth it or not?

[Thao Pham]

Of course, you can't compare those two situations, but the way we do it is to use the same principles. Is there a good business plan? Who are the proponents? We look at who the other financial partners are, for example, in terms of the financial ask.

Those are the elements we look at. Either you are a seasoned company that is ready for export or you're a start-up. We look at the same basic criteria for both.

The other thing I might do, as the follow-up that we do on each of those projects, is pay more attention to a start-up to make sure that they're on track and are getting to the results that are expected, compared with another company that is well run and has a good track record.