Industry Committee on May 1st, 2018

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

But on the economic impact aspect, what did you find? What were the results of that impact—

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

As of right now, we're still going through the process of doing our due diligence. It is a rigorous and robust process. We haven't made any final determination at this moment.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

We've known for months that this takeover is happening, so do you have any idea what the impact—

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

I have lots of ideas and I have lots of information, but at this moment I'm not in a position to share it, not until we complete our due diligence. I don't want to speculate on anything until we make a final determination, but I can assure you that Canada's national economic interest will always guide our decision-making. It always has in the past and will continue to do so going forward.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

Former CSIS director, Ward Alcock, has stated recently that the proposed takeover of Aecon is a threat to our national security. Furthermore, this takeover would limit opportunities to co-operate with our largest trading partner, the United States. We've seen that with the Gordie Howe bridge project that's coming up.

Do you believe that this takeover is in Canada's best interest?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

We're going through that analysis right now. I respect experts and their opinions, and I have a great deal of confidence in the current experts we have, the current head of CSIS, the current head of the RCMP and other security agencies. I value their advice and feedback. I've always listened to their advice and feedback, and I follow their advice. As I've stated in the House of Commons, I'll state here unequivocally that we never have and never will compromise on national security. We'll make sure we do our proper due diligence before we render any decision and go public with it.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

It's an interesting statement, because we have the recent case of the Norsat satellite company that was sold without a national security review. How can you say that you take national security seriously when a satellite company wasn't even subject to a national security review?

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Answer very quickly, please.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

Every review is subject to a national security multi-step process. That process is always followed. As I said, I've always followed the advice of our national security officials.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you very much.

We're going to move to Mr. Baylis. You have a very quick three minutes.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Okay, thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Minister Bains, for being here.

The innovation economy that you've been working so heavily on is ultimately based on intellectual property, so I was really very happy to see the announcements that were made last week on our innovation strategy related specifically to intellectual property. I noted that a lot of the points that you brought up stemmed from the reports of this committee, so I want to thank you for that. I think the experts who testified appreciated that.

Can you talk to us about the IP marketplace? This is one of the cornerstones of what you announced. Can you explain that a bit more?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

You're right. This is the first national IP strategy that the federal government has deployed. In a new knowledge economy, it was long overdue, and I want to thank you again for your work.

As you know, there is $85.3 million associated with this strategy as well, so it has substantial resources deployed. There are three components to it. One, of course, is around IP literacy, which is really important, particularly, small businesses and IP. Only 9% actually have an IP strategy, and only 10% actually own IP, so this is a real challenge for us. Even if you look at the context in the U.S. for the S&P 500, 84% of their assets are attributed to IP, while for the TSX top 30, it's only 40%. We're really behind in the IP game relative to our U.S. peers.

We brought different provisions. We looked at trolls and bad behaviour. We brought a patent collective forward as well, to deal with issues and to provide better resources to deal with—again—those bad actors.

The IP marketplace is a great initiative that this committee highlighted. It really is a one-stop shop for businesses, to be able to determine the different patents that exist in a more clear and concise way and to see how they can better leverage it in their own business. Also, those patent holders are in a position to then get better licensing, revenue, and fees out of their patents as well.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Let's facilitate that.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

That's exactly it. The whole idea is to be that one-stop shop, a marketplace for patent holders that really allows businesses, academia, and IP patent holders to work together.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Another point that was brought up through our consultations was the need to help our small and medium-sized businesses become more IP literate, to really bring them up a bit. I saw that there's a great initiative on that front. Can you elaborate on what you're doing specifically to help the small and medium-sized businesses become more literate, with stronger IP?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office, CIPO, is going to provide additional resources for training. We're going to have IP legal clinics. We're very mindful of that. We recognize that small businesses, in particular, need to have a strategy when it comes to IP. They don't fully appreciate it, and what happens is that these trolls or bad actors come and can undermine their business by extorting money for the IP that they didn't patent, for example.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

I'm going to have to cut you off—sorry.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

The bottom line is that there is a comprehensive program to promote literacy and tools for businesses to create a strong business strategy for IP.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you, Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you very much. We notice the bells are going off. I would like unanimous consent so that Mr. Masse gets his final two minutes.

All right. Thank you.

Mr. Masse, take it home for the final two minutes.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you. With that, I of course have to ask about my local community, but it is a national issue, and that's the Gordie Howe bridge. It was raised in regard to Aecon and the Investment Canada Act. We have SNC-Lavalin, which is under criminal investigation, as the second of three bidders, and then there's a third one.

Is there any concern, or is there a backup plan with regard to...? We're going into the June selection of the preferred candidate of those three groups. One's involved in an Investment Canada review. The second one's under criminal investigation. For the third one, we don't know of anything yet, problem-wise, but is there a backup plan with regard to this process?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

My understanding is that the process is well under way. We've been very clear about our support for the bridge. I'm not aware of a plan B, plan C, or plan E right now. I know that they're going through a competitive bidding process.

When it comes to Aecon, for example, we're going to do our proper due diligence in terms of the acquisition that's being discussed under the Investment Canada Act, but we are very supportive, as you know, of the Gordie Howe bridge initiative, and right now they're going through the bidding process.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Last, an order in council was provided for the Ambassador Bridge, owned by Matty Moroun, a private American billionaire.

My question is why. It is destroying my Sandwich Town community, which is adjacent to it, and there were no community benefits that were provided. This is a serious situation. Why were no community benefits provided for in that order in council?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

I can get back to you on that. I appreciate your raising that issue. That is not the objective. We want to make sure we get the Gordie Howe bridge built. We recognize the challenges right now with the Ambassador Bridge as well. That's why we support the Gordie Howe bridge, but specific to this order in council, we can get back to you on that and determine what next steps we can take.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

That's fair enough. Thank you.