Evidence of meeting #52 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was technology.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Robert Walker  President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories
Karna Gupta  President and Chief Executive Officer, Information Technology Association of Canada
Jean-Marie De Koninck  Special Advisor of the scientific director, Mitacs
Walter Di Bartolomeo  Vice-President, Engineering, Pratt & Whitney Canada
Robert Annan  Chief Research Officer, Research and Policy, Mitacs
Kelly Hutchinson  Vice-President, Government Relations and Policy, Information Technology Association of Canada

12:55 p.m.

Special Advisor of the scientific director, Mitacs

Dr. Jean-Marie De Koninck

If I might add to that, in 30 seconds I want to make a general statement that is essentially related to your question on the future. There is a lot of potential in our young Canadians, and I know it as a professor. I see it on a daily basis. They're the ones who are going to solve today's problems in the environment, energy, health, and so forth, but they are also the ones who will boost the economy of tomorrow. Whatever support—any kind of support—we can bring to help these kids fully develop is the best investment Canada can make, in my opinion.

12:55 p.m.

Vice-President, Engineering, Pratt & Whitney Canada

Walter Di Bartolomeo

In the aerospace industry, I'll say that if you look at the first 100 years of aerospace, you'll see that an aircraft was a tube with wings on it. Perhaps not in my lifetime but in my children's lifetime, I think an aircraft will look different. It will look more like a boomerang. We won't have window seats. People will be inside this boomerang and will use cameras and whatnot to see what's going on outside.

That will drive a whole level of fundamental technology that will be different: the aerodynamics, the materials, the structures, the electrical power, the distributed power, and the alternate fuel sources for that. I don't think it will be in my lifetime, but an aircraft will look completely different in the lifetime of our kids.

12:55 p.m.

Vice-President, Government Relations and Policy, Information Technology Association of Canada

Kelly Hutchinson

Probably what we can do to keep pace is to have studies like this that look forward and assess the security and the implications when it comes to privacy and all of the various aspects of even this thing that we've called the Internet of things that is growing today.

We're kind of building a plane while we're flying it. If we have this future of youth and adults who are moving forward in this great new capacity, we as leaders need to look forward to that and help build that framework to ensure that it's safe for Canadians and supports job and workforce implications and security and privacy for all of us. That's the one thing we can really do and I commend you for doing this study today.

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative David Sweet

Dr. Walker.

1 p.m.

President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories

Dr. Robert Walker

I would build on the comment here that the leap into the future says the world will speed up. The policies and the safety, security, ethical, and regulatory challenges that will face government are already speeding up. They're going to speed up. They're going to get more complex. Government's relationship with science needs to adapt to that new reality.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

I think that's partly why I would agree that this whole thing is going to roll a lot faster than it did in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, say, because it already has. That's why we've brought in some of the bills that we have, and the changes to adapt.

Do you see any other ways of being able to do that and still preserve the IP? It's a preservation that needs to be done so these companies will flourish and will want to continue to expand. Are there ways other than just research and development taxes and those sorts of things?

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative David Sweet

You have the last word, Dr. Walker.

1 p.m.

President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories

Dr. Robert Walker

I come back to say, how is it that government gets better at anticipating the policy and regulatory challenges we're going to experience? I believe the dialogue that you've been having here has given you an insight as to what's coming. Government's approach has typically been naturally reactive in dealing with policy and regulatory matters. When you see the problem, we adapt to it. We need to get better at anticipating and getting ahead of those challenges. For example, the position paper on the Internet of things gives a platform for saying it's coming, how do we get ahead? By focusing on trying to be proactive and in front of it, we'll be more adaptive. Now the answer to that: more dialogue such as this.

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative David Sweet

Thank you very much, Dr. Walker.

Because of the agreement on this committee, the 52nd meeting of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology will be the last meeting on this study in this session of Parliament.

Elections are disruptive as well, ladies and gentlemen, and I think everybody here who is on this present committee is dedicated to making sure that we continue this study in the next Parliament, but we don't have that capability of making that a definitive position.

With that said, we want to thank our witnesses very much for their contribution. I know that future committees will use the testimony in many different ways. Not only your testimony, but the previous witnesses have been extraordinary as well in the sense of what you've said with regard to helping us predetermine where we're going to go to have a broader vision and try to anticipate rather than react.

Colleagues, thank you very much for your cooperation as well.

We're adjourned.