Evidence of meeting #23 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 vote.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:15 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Acadian Seaplants Limited
We've used the provincial nominee program out of Nova Scotia. In that particular situation it can turn into landed immigrant status. If you get through that and you're eligible under those criteria, it turns into that and it has worked successfully for us.
4:20 p.m.
NDP
Richard Cannings NDP South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Mr. Deveau, you were mentioning that the National Research Council has evolved into something more of a fee-for-service situation. Would you recommend that perhaps it move back to the system it used to use? Would that make it easier for start-ups to get involved?
4:20 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Acadian Seaplants Limited
The National Research Council, if you look back about 25 years ago, was more focused on basic research as a component, and it was also able to work with industry at the same time as doing fundamental basic research. That organization now has been, to my mind, pushed too far into cost recovery. Realistically, an outfit such as the National Research Council cannot turn into a cost-recovery model.
There is a role for a government research institution to be able to do that basic research and work with industry without always looking for the recovery of funds, particularly with the SMEs. The technology they provided to us many years ago was virtually at no cost. It enabled us to get going, so that we created the business and the industry that we have today.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Thank you, Chair, and thank you both for your testimonies today. I wish we had more time. That's the story of our lives, but we have five minutes right now.
Mr. Brown, I would like to have a copy of the report that you mentioned for our records. Some of your conclusions are leading to where our report is also leading, which shows that in the last few years we haven't had progress in terms of talent, cost, and productivity, with the supplier network being key as well.
I come from the riding of Guelph. Conestoga College has a supply chain program that they're having trouble attracting people to, but there are jobs at the other end. That could maybe help us in that promotion.
Mr. Deveau, what a great company. Congratulations. With what we've seen just on the Internet about being fully integrated, diversified, and technology-based, you'd never know you were talking about agriproducts. I also sit on the agriculture committee, and we're looking at agrotechnology.
I'm interested in something else on the website that one of my researchers found. You've recently installed a Bitcoin ATM in downtown Toronto. What's that all about?
4:20 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Acadian Seaplants Limited
That's not us.
4:20 p.m.
Managing Partner, Consumer and Industrial Products, Deloitte
That was Deloitte.
4:20 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Acadian Seaplants Limited
I was going to say if it's us, then it's somebody in my company who's doing something I don't know anything about.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
That's right.
Deloitte, maybe I'll flip over to you. We haven't gotten into Bitcoins, although Mr. Nuttall has suggested that might be something we look at in a future study. Does that tie in with anything in manufacturing? If not, we'll skip it.
4:20 p.m.
Managing Partner, Consumer and Industrial Products, Deloitte
It may, because it's one of these emerging technologies that has the potential to have a disproportionate and exponential influence on a number of things that probably aren't obvious as we sit here today, including the ability to provide verifiable, transparent, and trustworthy transactions to facilitate agreements in a peer-to-peer way. Deloitte helped spin off an entity that is working on enterprise- and commercial-grade blockchain infrastructure, which is something to keep an eye on.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
As our committee goes forward, blockchain is something we need to be considering in the next few years, and hopefully sooner.
I'm very interested in your model, going back to agrotechnology, of having offshore talent. Is it as a result of just not being able to get talent here that you're setting up facilities to help you, or is that a standard type of practice?
4:20 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Acadian Seaplants Limited
No, and I'll give you an example. One of our major product lines is a biostimulant that's used to help grow crops. I go to the world biostimulant conference in Strasbourg, France, and then another one in Florence, Italy, three years later. I look at who's doing what in the world. I look at the best in the world assembled there—1,100 people—and I go shopping. I find the person who appears to be someone who could really move our company forward.
I've literally hired six people like that, probably, throughout the years. They're very specific. They have fundamentally changed us and allowed us to stay at the top in terms of what we do, the absolute best in the world. It's not because I can't find them here; it's just that that's where they are. It's a global world.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Right. Well, to be the best, you get the best.
In terms of technology and technology transfer between Canada and other countries, have you worked on taking their technology or connecting to their technology, or does offshore technology stay offshore in terms of IP?
4:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Acadian Seaplants Limited
Well, it's rather interesting. It's kind of the reverse. We're known in our smaller world as being the best in the world. When we bought the company in Ireland—we actually bought it from the Irish government—we said that we would bring our technology to Ireland, and the transfer of technology would be in that direction.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
September 26th, 2016 / 4:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Acadian Seaplants Limited
Absolutely. It makes us a bigger, stronger company, and we end up hiring more people in Canada.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
I have about 20 seconds, so I'll ask a really quick question.
In terms of IP, you have ten Ph.D.s working with you. Has IP been a challenge with any of the universities? Is that something we need to improve and to explore more deeply as part of our study?
4:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Acadian Seaplants Limited
Negotiating IP agreements with academic and research institutions is about the most painful thing I do in my job.
4:25 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Thank you. It's good to get that statement on the record.
Thank you very much.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
We have time for three more questions. We have four minutes on this side, four minutes on that side, and Mr. Cannings will have two minutes.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
Alex Nuttall Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
Thank you, Mr. Deveau.
Is it more painful than this?