Industry Committee on Feb. 18th, 2016

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

I completely disagree with us not doing our homework first. I think we have to do our homework. We have to learn. We have a number of agencies we have to speak to.

Mr. Nuttall made a point about the BDC and some problems we've seen there. I can tell you that I've had multi-million dollar loans from the BDC. At one time, one of my companies was the biggest consultant to the BDC, so I have a completely different view from yours. I have probably a much deeper understanding, and even I think I could still benefit from speaking to them. I'm ready to say....

I have a different motion, but we can vote on this first one. I am saying that our first job is to bring ourselves up to speed on the different departments, and at that time we can speak to the ministers. But I don't like putting the cart ahead of the horse.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Mr. Nuttall, go ahead.

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

I sincerely appreciate that. It's great you've worked with the BDC. I am sure they will come and make a great presentation.

I also know that I've referred millions and millions and millions of dollars of business to them and worked very closely with them in the past. That doesn't take away the fact that they are still in competition with private sector financing—

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

No, they're not. That is an incorrect statement.

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Mr. Chair, could the member please close his mic? Thank you.

I would also say this. You talk about working independently, and we need to. I think one of the things we heard in the election is that it needs to be done, that we need to be third-party, separate from the government, objective. Part of that is understanding what the government is doing.

If we actually see a gap, we aren't just going to sit here and communicate that to the minister. We're also going to say, “You know what? There's a gap here that we need to fill.” That's our job, to fill those voids. Let's figure out what those gaps are. If the government is already taking care of it, we don't need to spend your resources and all the staff time going down roads that we just don't need to, because the government is already attending to those.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Monsieur Arseneault.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a question about procedure. I want to make sure I have understood correctly.

Mr. Nuttall moved a motion, and Brian Masse proposed an amendment. Is that indeed the procedure to follow? Perhaps Mr. Préfontaine could confirm.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Roger Préfontaine]

Yes, Mr. Arseneault.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

I am requesting a vote because we are going around in circles and we should be moving forward. Is this the time to request a vote? What does the procedure dictate? Are we voting on the first amendment or on the main motion?

[The Clerk]

There is just one thing I could say, Mr. Arseneault. The principle is that the debate in committee should not be limited. Members have the right to speak and can debate the motion put forward as they see fit, under the chair's guidance, of course.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

But in this case, the debate is not about the amendment to the motion. That is my understanding. The debate is about the first motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Yes, it is about the first motion.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Unless I misunderstood, an amendment was proposed by Mr. Masse.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

What is the motion that's put forward here? Could you repeat that, please, Mr. Dreeshen?

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

The original motion I put forth said, “That the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology invite the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, to appear on Tuesday, February 22, 2016, to present his mandate, and that the meeting be televised.”

The friendly amendment that was discussed was to make that “as soon as possible” rather than the date.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Go ahead.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

My question is with the amendment. What would be the new wording, that we are asking Mr. Bains to be here at the earliest possible time? Is that the amendment?

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

It's important to understand that—you can shake your head—there's a bunch of people here and we want to be comfortable with everything. I understand that you have strong opinions. This side has strong opinions too, so let's keep our composure here and let's be respectful. All right?

Is the motion to invite Minister Bains, or all three ministers?

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

I believe that we should start with the minister, but—

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Okay, so the motion is Mr. Bains at his earliest convenience. That's the motion.

(Motion negatived [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Mr. Baylis.

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

I have a motion that will start with a bottom-up approach by educating ourselves before we move on to the political agendas. I think this is what our electorate would like us to do, to take informed decisions based on informed information. I have a different motion.

My motion would be that a representative from each of the agencies in our portfolio be asked to appear before the committee and provide a briefing on their state of the union for their departments and to include what are their biggest challenges, their biggest opportunities, and what are their overall goals, and to do this with a focus on innovation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Okay.

Mr. Masse.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I don't know why we'd add “focus on innovation”.

Second, usually you try to set up the earliest meeting with the minister and then you'd fill in your time until the minister got there with the different departments that you wanted. If the departments are busy, then they'll stall the minister from coming here, and then we have to go through this all again. I don't understand this at all.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

My understanding through the clerk is that if we request the department head to be here on Tuesday, they will be here on Tuesday.