Industry Committee on Nov. 19th, 2018

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Fair enough.

Really quickly, moving to steel tariffs, we just had testimony that $350 million has been collected by the government. We have about a million dollars a day coming in with regard to the tariffs. About $50 million has gone back out. The request from your estimates here is for $125 million—part of a total $250 million out there—and there's a process now to try to reimburse smaller companies that have been shut out of reimbursement.

Was there any economic impact analysis done, and was it done for small and medium-sized businesses with regard to the government plan and its consequences? Has that been done, and if it hasn't been done, what can you do to ensure that we're actually going to see those smaller companies accessing the money that was basically tariffed from them?

Right now, they're being told to go to BDC, which is borrowing money, not getting their money back. The promise of your government was that it would be revenue-neutral.

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

We are definitely providing duty relief, as you highlighted, as part of our support to the steel and aluminum workers in that industry.

You're right that we put forward a $2-billion support package, with financing options through BDC, EDC and the strategic innovation fund. Most recently, out of the strategic innovation fund, we announced $50 million for ArcelorMittal to expand its operations. Over $200 million has been disbursed through BDC, to provide financing for cash flow issues. I believe over $100 million has been disbursed through EDC as well.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Will you reimburse the borrowing costs for companies? That is their money that you've tariffed by an action of your government. Will you reimburse the borrowing costs to those companies?

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

It's important to add context. We responded dollar for dollar to the unjust and unfair tariffs imposed by the Americans. That was the appropriate response to demonstrate that we completely disagreed and found it baffling—actually mind-boggling—that they would think we're a security concern under section 232. That's why we responded.

At the same time, we recognize that certain companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises as you rightly mentioned, should get duty relief. We have targeted relief for them, and we are working to get the money out sooner rather than later.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Will you commit to, or at least consider, actually reimbursing all the borrowing costs?

Some of these smaller companies cannot afford this because of their profit margin, so they have two problems. One is the borrowing cost, and the other is getting it to them in the first place.

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

Look, we've made it very clear we want to support the workers in both the steel and the aluminum sectors. We put forward a very strong, $2-billion support package. We'll continue to work with them and deal with issues around cash flow to make sure they continue to be viable and have long-term success.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you.

Mr. Sheehan, you have five minutes.

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

Thank you very much.

I was there when the $2 billion was announced by you and a number of other ministers. It was a multi-ministerial response. We'll drill down a bit more on the SIF, the strategic innovation fund that you talked about in your speech, and its being very critical to Canada's economy. I totally agree with that. We heard earlier that there was a specific carve-out of $250 million for the steel and aluminum industry.

What is the objective of that money? What is your hope for the steel and aluminum industries that access that particular fund?

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

First of all, thank you for your leadership. I know steel is very important in your constituency and you've been a great advocate for this. I remember you pushing for this initiative when we were coming up with the support package, and you made it very clear we needed to support our steelworkers. Thank you for your personal leadership on this, Terry.

The first signal we wanted to send is that this is an important sector. There's a lot of innovation occurring in this sector. There are a lot of transformations occurring, and we want to make sure we accelerate that. We want to see more money in research and development. We want to see more money in capital and equipment to make sure our producers have the latest technologies so they can compete in the long run. This was a great opportunity for us to really invest and coinvest with them in some of the major capital projects that would allow the sector to continue to grow and be competitive going forward.

That's really the objective of the strategic innovation fund. It's saying, look, we have your back. We're here to support you. We want to see more jobs. We want to see more R and D. We want to see more capital invested. That's exactly what we had from the ArcelorMittal announcement. Right after that they did a job fair, because they were looking to hire more people. That's a great sign.

We recognize that we have legitimate challenges under section 232 with the tariffs that are still in place by the Americans—the 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum. We don't underestimate the impact that's having on producers. At the same time, these investments send a very powerful and positive signal to our producers that we are supporting them, particularly our workers. These investments will create more jobs and more opportunities, and that bodes well for the long-term success of our steel and aluminum workers.

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

As you're already aware—and this is public knowledge because they mentioned it at the trade committee that I'm also on—Algoma has an application in SIF programming, and their hope is to continue to diversify as well. They agree with all your comments, so I appreciate your support for our ask and that program.

You were also in Sault Ste. Marie. It is true that we make steel. We're a great community and a city of steel excellence, but we also have a lot of innovation and creation happening. You've been in Sault Ste. Marie and had some round tables and discussions with various companies. I'm really interested in the dialogues you had recently with some different players related to the innovation and the strategies around those particular round tables that happened.

What did you learn? What did you hear?

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

As you know, one of the areas we talked extensively about was clean tech—the investments that are being made in clean technology and the green jobs that are being created. Some of that diversification in job creation opportunities is really a reflection of the additional monies you advocated for, along with your colleagues from northern Ontario, for FedNor.

Actually, since we formed government, we've seen an increase of $58.2 million for FedNor. We've seen that in three successive budgets. There was $5.2 million in the 2016 budget, $25 million in the 2017 budget, and $28 million in the last budget. That speaks to the overall funding increase that we've seen in the last budget for all the regional development agencies, $511 million. Specifically, FedNor has received funding in all three budgets.

There are enormous opportunities in innovation. As I said, we talked about high-speed Internet connectivity. It's essential to make sure people have access to the Internet so they can really succeed in the e-commerce platform.

Also, as we discussed when I was there, the opportunities with clean tech in the Soo are enormous. It's great that we have municipal leadership on board. Christian Provenzano, the local mayor, is on board as well. Many companies are receiving support through Sustainable Development Technology Canada, which is a commercialization support mechanism start-up for clean tech. There have been some good announcements there.

They're further supported by FedNor, and that's an example of the kind of diversification that's taking place and the jobs that are being created. It allows young people to stay there and raise their families there. It enables that community to grow. There's no doubt steel is important, and we're very supportive of working with Algoma, but there's so much happening there in the Soo, and I want to thank you for your leadership in that.

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

Thank you, Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you very much.

We're going to move to Mr. Chong. You have five minutes.

[Michael Chong, Wellington—Halton Hills, CPC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for appearing in front of our committee.

I have a question about vote 1a under Statistics Canada, about the pilot project. Have you or your cabinet colleagues issued a directive or ministerial order to the chief statistician with respect to the pilot project?

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

No.

[Michael Chong]

You say the pilot project is on hold.

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

I just want to give clarification on that. The chief statistician said that he would not proceed until issues of privacy and data—

[Michael Chong]

Yes, but in the House of Commons you said the pilot project is on hold.

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

Based on that commentary, yes. I just wanted to identify what—

[Michael Chong]

Okay. Was there any communication between you and the chief statistician about putting this project on hold, or was this a decision he came to completely independently of any conversation between your office and his office?

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

I've not spoken to him about—

[Michael Chong]

I'm asking if he came to the decision independently of your office or yourself?

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

Of course. He has to make independent decisions.

[Michael Chong]

That's interesting, because when appearing before our committee, he made it quite clear that he supports this pilot project and thinks it's a good idea. It's passing strange that he would support the project and indicate that he wants it to go ahead, and then at the same time indicate to the House of Commons, through you, that it's on hold. There seems to be a bit of a contradiction there. How long will this project be on hold?

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

Again, I can only refer to the comments made by the chief statistician, who's ultimately responsible for the implementation of this program. He indicated that he's only going to proceed when he's confident that issues around privacy and data protection are dealt with in a meaningful way. That speaks to the broader concern that we want good-quality, reliable data, but at the same time we want the other issues to be dealt with in an appropriate way.