Evidence of meeting #24 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 investors.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
You can't call the question, but we are open for debate. Is there any further debate on.... Which one are we doing?
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Alex Nuttall Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
It's number two, because number one was adjourned, Mr. Chair.
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Could we block-vote all of these? I've read them and they're all the same. Or do you want to read each one?
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
Alex Nuttall Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
They're not all the same. There are different names.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Frank Baylis Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Can we block-vote the two different groups? There are two types.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
So you don't want to do the manufacturing study is basically what you're saying....
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
Alex Nuttall Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
No, we do want to do the manufacturing study. We want to bear witness from innovation leaders on innovation in the manufacturing study.
These witnesses, I assume, will go at the back end. If we just hurry up and vote, then we move on.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON
This is for clarification.
Just in taking a look at what we've been discussing today, we've been hard at it, and our witnesses have been interrupted a few times now since the beginning. Now we're getting towards the end. We have only a few more minutes left. Out of courtesy, I think, we might want to consider, perhaps, that if we're not going to ask any more questions, we allow them to leave. I see them nodding their heads as well. I think it's a matter of courtesy. We've interrupted them a few times.
We started at around 3:33. We continued to talk and talk, and we went back and forth and spent a considerable amount of time in the continuation of talking about whether or not we should in fact use their valuable time, their valuable resources and knowledge. We had such a wonderful line of questioning with such information. I took a look at the slides up there. There's so much more we could learn and get on the record. I know we have only a few more minutes left, but I think we really have to acknowledge that and thank them so much for the information they have.
We can go off-line and we can have discussions. That will help me, but it doesn't necessarily help the study. The study does not get it on the record. It does not get to our friends here for them to be able to record it and for us to put forward the best strategy that we possibly can. It's going to have in it what we heard over and over again, which is the need for access to capital for small and medium-sized businesses, not only in large areas such as Montreal, Vancouver, or Halifax, but in other areas, in rural Canada where I'm from, in northern Ontario. We heard about a model they have. I was glad they were able to talk about this great model of northern Ontario, but I'm sure there are other things that we'd like to learn about.
My friend Jayson was about to undertake and share with us the importance of broadband as it relates to the industry that he has represented so well. We've seen the explosion of jobs in that industry. It behooves us to continue to use our time to listen to these great presenters, to celebrate them, and to acknowledge the work they've been doing and continue to do. Through these exchanges, it also helps them to serve their clients. We're doing their clients a disservice, because their clients do pay attention to this. They're asking, “Where is this government's head?” That's all of us, all the parties: the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, and the New Democratic Party. They're able to actually learn from us.
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
On a point of order, I just wanted to see if the clock is accurate, and in the time we have left, if you want to remind the honourable member—
5:25 p.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
If the honourable member wants to have our delegation speak, he might want to cede the floor to them.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Unfortunately—and just for clarification, I appreciate that, Brian—I'm not able to do that, because right now we're talking about these notices of motion that have now become motions, which has suspended our discussion. I'm making a salient point, and I think we need to recognize this for the future when we have great speakers like this. I don't want to do this again. I really don't. I want to have this manufacturing study.
In Sault Ste. Marie, our largest employer, Essar—Algoma Steel—is under creditor protection. Right now, there are very similar businesses that are facing challenges. Again, it behooves us to get out there and listen and to create this manufacturing study. I can't say enough about that. There are other start-ups. I worked in the industry for a very long time, and angel investing, as we see by this chart here, is making a big impact and difference in Canada.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
I hate to cut you off, but our scheduled meeting does finish at 5:30, and it's 5:30, so I am going to adjourn.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
Alex Nuttall Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
We might have unanimous consent to keep going.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
We actually have bells.
With that, thank you very much to our guests for coming. We should have provided the popcorn.
The meeting is adjourned.