Evidence of meeting #25 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 quebec.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Chandra Arya Liberal Nepean, ON
Being a big company, of course, you have access to talent. I was wondering more in terms of the vendors you have, the small companies. Do they also get the same level of talent that you guys can get?
Past President, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada
I believe so. We try not to develop everything ourselves. For example, we'll work with robotics companies and vision measurement system companies on different projects to improve our manufacturing capabilities. It would be far too costly to do everything ourselves and to pull in all of that expertise and maintain it in our own organization, I would say.
It's not my strongest area, but I know....
Liberal
Chandra Arya Liberal Nepean, ON
Mr. Gérin, you mentioned the U.S. study and how 6,000 companies or something like that saw an increase of 50% in sales and 36% in job creation with the first patent, if I'm right. What do you think comparable numbers for Canada would be?
Special Advisor, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada
The sample would certainly be smaller, and as I said, proportionately we don't patent as much in Canada and so on, so it's hard to tell. The sample they used in that study was 43,000 start-ups getting a first patent. In Canada, the total number of patents delivered in a year is around 37,000 or 38,000. That's not just for the start-ups, so we're looking at maybe 2,000 or so.
Liberal
Chandra Arya Liberal Nepean, ON
Is it possible for you to give us any idea about patents for the life sciences sector in Canada?
Special Advisor, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada
It's certainly a sector that is also patenting, but I'm not sure what more I can tell you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
You're pretty much done.
We're going to jump to Mr. Nuttall, I believe. You have six minutes.
Conservative
Alex Nuttall Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
Today there was an announcement regarding changes to environmental laws and carbon taxing in Canada. I know in Quebec there's already a system in place. Considering the fact that the federal government was already talking about going down this road, do you know anything or have you done any research with regard to the effects that $50 per tonne will have on your industry?
Vice-President, Board of Administration, President and Executive Officer, Amisco, Quebec Furniture Manufacturers' Association
I have no idea, but I would think there'd be very little impact.
Conservative
Alex Nuttall Conservative Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON
Okay. Do you know what the carbon footprint of your business is?
Vice-President, Board of Administration, President and Executive Officer, Amisco, Quebec Furniture Manufacturers' Association
I do not know that.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
You're done? All right.
We're going to move to Mr. Stetski. You have six minutes.
NDP
Wayne Stetski NDP Kootenay—Columbia, BC
Can you clarify a little bit the relationship between CIPO and your organization, and is CIPO adequately staffed and resourced to do what they need to do for you in that relationship?
Special Advisor, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada
CIPO is an agency of the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and IPIC is a professional association. IPIC's members are the agents who represent clients before CIPO and advocate on behalf of clients to obtain patents, trademarks, or industrial designs.
CIPO hires examiners. If Pratt & Whitney files for a patent, Jeff will hire an agent and prepare the application. We'll file it to CIPO, and an examiner who specializes in that area of technology at CIPO will examine it to determine if Pratt & Whitney should receive a patent for this invention and if it's an invention or not.
In the past few years, CIPO has significantly increased its staff to deal with increases in patent applications and to reduce the time and so on. Are they at their best level right now? I'm not sure if I'm able to answer that question.
One thing that may be useful for you to know is that it's a self-funded agency of the government. It charges fees for the patent applications and so on, and from those fees it hires its staff.
NDP
Wayne Stetski NDP Kootenay—Columbia, BC
How long might it take to get a patent through CIPO from start to finish?
Past President, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada
I'm at a loss to know. I think it's probably two years until your first examination report. Some of the guys in the gallery behind me would have better answers than I would right now, but let's say that three years to get a patent through the system is about right, from application to issued patent.
NDP
Wayne Stetski NDP Kootenay—Columbia, BC
Would a better—if I can use that word—level of resourcing speed that process up, do you think? Is it a barrier in terms of the length of time it currently takes?
Special Advisor, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada
It's a barrier to some extent, but there are options to accelerate the process. Patent applicants can request—I think there may be an extra cost—that the process go faster, I think. Some would like to see it faster; others are okay with that duration. Probably with more staff they could reduce the cost. What would be the optimal mix? That's difficult to say.
NDP
Wayne Stetski NDP Kootenay—Columbia, BC
For furniture and manufacturing, if you could help me out here, please, what does research and development look like in the furniture industry, and can government do more to help on the research and development end?
Vice-President, Board of Administration, President and Executive Officer, Amisco, Quebec Furniture Manufacturers' Association
In our case, it is important to pay attention to the trends. I repeat that this is a fashion-focused industry, and the trends evolve a great deal. It is absolutely essential to be on the lookout for new trends in terms of style and to always develop products that, we believe, will follow the trends that are going to be important in home fashion. The biggest investment is made around this, and the entire product development process must be connected to it.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Furniture Show, Quebec Furniture Manufacturers' Association
I would add that because it's a very competitive industry, there are many new materials that are being used in the production of material, such as different solvents. With different environmental laws, you need R and D to keep up with the new regulations. There's an awful lot of R and D in the materials themselves, whether they be glues, solvents, or paints. Help can be worthwhile in that case. We do work with various institutions in the province, such as FPInnovations—which is actually pan-Canadian—but there is never enough R and D.
On the office side, significant R and D goes into the design of new types of furniture. The office environment is probably changing more quickly than the residential as far as usage of space is concerned, with younger employees looking for different ways of working with IT within the office environment. There's a lot of R and D going into materials and new products on the office side.
NDP
Wayne Stetski NDP Kootenay—Columbia, BC
With regard to those materials in particular, I used to be the mayor of Cranbrook and I worked with our fire department on several occasions. There were concerns, quite frankly, in terms of some of the products going into furniture these days and how volatile they are.
Does industry work with fire departments or comparable organizations?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Furniture Show, Quebec Furniture Manufacturers' Association
The answer is, yes, in some cases. I'll give you an example for when you talk about combustible materials.
California put out a regulation called TB117-2013. It was a technical regulation that had an impact on the smoulder test for mattresses. Even though the regulation only applied to California, it affected the whole North American market. It changed the way the testing was done and what materials could be used.
Originally, you had various materials injected into the mattress to prevent it from flaming up, but California said, “We don't want any of those because they cause cancer.” It has changed totally the way that manufacturers buy products and combine them to meet these various tests. These types of tests occur in different places across North America, and depending on where you are exporting to, you need to match them.
Local fire departments play only a small role, though, because you're trying to meet criteria that in many cases are established provincially, federally, or for all of the North American market.