Evidence of meeting #18 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was projects.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry
There are two ministries that were involved. They are Natural Resources Canada and Environment Canada, which is now Environment and Climate Change Canada.
This transfer gives effect to the change in the machinery of government. When the cabinet was formed, that brought SDTC into our portfolio. This is a transfer from their estimates into ours for the activity they already had programmed and was already under way through those other ministries.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
You're good? All right, we're good.
Thank you very much.
We're going to move to Mr. Dreeshen. You have seven minutes.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer—Mountain View, AB
Thank you for coming here to give us a bit of insight into the supplementals.
During your address, you had spoken about $15.2 million over two years being announced in budget 2016 to maintain and upgrade federal labs and other federal assets. One of your points about the $3.5 million was that it would centralize all of CRC's existing lab spaces into one modern research lab. Do these come from different communities, or were they within the same building and are just moving into a different part of the lab? Can you tell us what type of consolidation was involved there?
Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
I can start and my colleague may want to add.
No, these are all buildings that are on their Shirleys Bay campus in various states of condition. There is a larger health and safety project underway to renovate and to bring these buildings into a modern state. What they're doing with the laboratories there, that specific initiative, is consolidating labs in different spaces into one building for efficiency and to modernize them.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer—Mountain View, AB
Is something going to be done with the buildings they have vacated, or are there future plans for them? Was that part of the decision?
Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
To the extent possible, the centre is trying to divest itself of buildings they will no longer require.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer—Mountain View, AB
The second issue I want to talk about is Western Economic Diversification. First, on the line items, the previous operating expenditures were nearly $35 million and grants and contributions $134 million. You're talking about an adjustment of $23 million to that.
Have requests for proposals gone out, where is some of that money going, and how do we end up with the nearly $200 million that you're speaking of there?
Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
As I mentioned earlier, this was begun under budget 2015 and additional funding was provided in budget 2016, so there hasn't really been a ramp-up period required, because this program was already under way.
To date, Western Economic Diversification Canada will be receiving $46.2 million in funding and two projects. The latest information I have is that there are two projects approved to date.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer—Mountain View, AB
Those two projects, $46.2 million in funding, and out of grants and contributions, it would total $157 million. Is that how one would look at that?
Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
The total envelope of funding they have is $46.2 million for that particular program. They are getting projects in now and will be assessing them and delivering them, two of which have been approved to date.
Conservative
Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
Yet to be allocated.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer—Mountain View, AB
—yet to to be allocated.
What is the procedure as far as applications for those particular projects are concerned?
Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
There is an intake that is occurring and they give priority to projects that address one or more of three basic criteria: upgrades to recreational facilities, advancing a clean growth economy, or having an impact on indigenous communities and people. Those are the essential or basic eligibility criteria, and there will be other considerations that will come in to play as they approve projects; for example, projects that leave a meaningful or lasting legacy resulting from the program for the 150th anniversary, upgrades that will provide a long-lasting benefit to the community. They will be assessing these individually, first with those broad criteria in mind and then looking between the several projects that are left to see how they rank.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer—Mountain View, AB
What were the previous criteria that were being used?
Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Management Sector, Department of Industry
I don't believe they have changed for this program.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer—Mountain View, AB
Near the end you were speaking of the defence procurement strategy and the $2.5 million to increase the department's analytical capacity. Can you explain what is involved there, what the dynamics are of this particular strategy, and what one can anticipate coming out of that?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry
The funding in the estimates relates to analytics to support key industrial capabilities. The idea here is that in evaluating industrial and technological benefits related to defence procurements, this evaluation will be a weighted factor in the decision among different bidders.
For the department to participate and bring to that process areas of strategic value from an industrial point of view that could benefit and grow industrial and strategic capabilities in the defence sector, we will be investing more money in our analytical support for that, because the change to the policy is becoming something quite core to the actual evaluation process.
We have the corresponding analytics and research to underpin the kind of evaluations that will go into those projects. It's a very sophisticated area of work and we need to increase our capability in that regard.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer—Mountain View, AB
I was on public accounts committee when we were dealing with the F-35s. Of course, all of that had been done as they looked at all of the different businesses and opportunities to get involvement throughout the country. Is this just an add-on to it or is it because we're looking at other types of fighter jets at this particular point in time?
Was there any change taking place or is it just a continuation of the same process?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry
Specifically, this is broad support across all procurement. It could relate specifically to fighters, it could relate to shipbuilding, or any areas of industrial capability that Canada is looking to enhance and grow, and improve over time, and how those could impact on many procurements whether it's for any part of the forces.
It's a broad capability we're talking about here. It's not specifically related to any specific procurement in and of itself.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
Thank you very much.
We're going to move over to Mr. Masse, who has seven minutes.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
To continue on that subject matter, currently across the board there isn't that type of analysis taking place to evaluate companies that could also be part of bids for national procurement?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Sector, Department of Industry
No, I wouldn't characterize the circumstance now or even in the past as that. I've been in the department for 10 years. The department has been involved in industrial evaluation projects related to procurement in all of the time I've been there. What's changed is the new industrial and technological benefits policy, which shifts the placement of the industrial technology benefit process into the actual decision-making up front as a rated area of criteria, rather than where you're essentially taking the outcome of the procurement process and then you're maximizing 100% value of those procurements in terms of Canadian benefits.
I think it's meant to strengthen the ability to bring a long-term, strategic perspective and tries to aim for outcomes that build Canadian capabilities as part of and in parallel with the actual procurement process.
In response to that, this funding is to support the department to do that work, which is what I would really call an enhancement of our level of effort. It's certainly not starting, though, from a point of zero. It's just to enhance what we already were doing in the department and to take it to the next level.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Right, because our trade agreements don't prohibit us from purchasing what we want in Canada from Canadian companies in national defence procurement. Is that correct?
