Industry Committee on May 1st, 2018

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Mr. Sheehan.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Thank you very much, Minister.

In your presentation you talked about the innovation superclusters initiative, and we all know that it was oversubscribed. What tended to happen, at least in places like Sault Ste. Marie—and in other places, according to other MPs—is that you had businesses that were talking again that hadn't talked in a long time, or had never talked before, including with partners in colleges and universities.

My question to you, Minister, is that we're down to five, so what about all the other ideas that are out there? Will regional economic development agencies be able to play a part in partnering with some of those ideas? How is the funding for the regional economic development agencies in the 2018 budget, if you could describe that?

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

Regional economic development agencies are really critical to our government's overall agenda, especially the economic agenda, because we want the benefits for the many, not just a few. This is not simply about urban Canada. We want to see rural and remote Canada succeed as well.

That's why we've brought the portfolios together. That's why we've elevated their importance. That's why we've had successive budgets of increasing funding for a lot of these regional development agencies.

You'll see that these estimates reflect the budget commitment going forward of previous 2017 increases, but as you saw in the last budget as well, we've increased the funding for regional development agencies by $511 million. The idea is to give them more resources to better coordinate with these initiatives. Whether it's the superclusters initiative, or the strategic innovation fund, or innovative solutions Canada—the programs I just briefly highlighted—the idea is that we want to break down those silos. That's why everything has come together in one department, to have better coordination, better alignment, and better opportunities, and again, to go above and beyond the traditional urban centres to really make sure that Canadians benefit. Twenty per cent of our population is outside urban Canada, and we want to make sure they succeed going forward in this new digital economy.

We're very confident that the additional funding for the regional development agencies will provide them with the resources to better coordinate with some of the initiatives that I highlighted.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Thank you.

That's it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you very much.

We're going to move to Ms. Rempel. You have five minutes, please.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Great. Do do we have the numbers?

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

Were you asking me how much of the total $7.8 billion goes to grants and contributions?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

No. For the period covered by these estimates, what was the total amount of direct contributions made to for-profit enterprises by all of the departments within your signing authority—not the $7.8 billion but the entire portfolio?

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

All those make up the entire portfolio. I just wanted to make clear that we have the same premise.

Of that, $5.5 billion is attributed to direct grants and contributions for all the portfolios combined.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

That $5.5 billion is to for-profit enterprises?

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

That's correct.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

How many full-time private sector jobs were created in that time period for that expenditure?

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

We're getting the specific breakdown, but overall I would say definitely tens of thousands of jobs have been created.

I just highlighted an example—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

In what industries?

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

In all industries, because—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Call me skeptical. Do you have an exact number of jobs?

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

No, we're working on that to get you the specific number, but I can tell you right now that the $5.5 billion has led to tens of thousands of jobs.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Where?

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

Across the economy.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Where?

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

Where do you want me to look?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

What industries? Where were those—

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

Name me an industry.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

How many jobs were created, let's say, in Alberta, with the $5.5 billion?