Industry Committee on Oct. 3rd, 2016

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

So, you suggest using that kind of leverage.

[Réjean Poitras]

Yes.

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

I see.

You have a plant in a rural area. Aside from the rural setting, do you face other challenges?

[Réjean Poitras]

E-commerce is a huge challenge. The clientele of furniture manufacturers are retailers. Currently, retailers, whether they are in clothing, furniture or other sectors, are going through significant upheaval caused by online commerce. However, we are in a position where businesses who know how to adapt will be able to deal with that.

We sell to online retailers. We made that shift, and it was fortunate that we did, but others have to do so. For the furniture industry, it's an issue. More and more manufacturers have to be able to sell to online retailers. The traditional retailers are going through a period of major upheaval.

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

Many people have come to tell us they do not have access to high-speed Internet in rural areas. Is this a problem?

[Réjean Poitras]

No.

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

Why haven't furniture manufacturers gotten into online commerce?

[Réjean Poitras]

Some have done so, some have made the shift fairly quickly, and others are lagging.

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

What is the association doing and what could the government do in terms of concrete steps to advance this cause?

[Pierre Richard]

There are examples of companies in Quebec that have made this shift. I'm thinking of South Shore, for example, which sells 95% of its products online now, as well as in Canada. This company offers IKEA-type products, which may be easier to sell online compared with more traditional products.

To make the shift, you need a little money. As I was telling you, 97% of our manufacturers have fewer than 100 employees. This means that the available funds are limited. The investment to take this plunge is fairly large. One of the possibilities would be to have tax credits for a certain number of years, perhaps for three years. This would give those who choose to invest in this transition a break profit-wise and would enable them to cover the costs later.

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

Is there an interest in online commerce? Is there a lack of know-how?

[Pierre Richard]

In fact, the whole world is looking at this very closely.

The furniture industry overall is lagging somewhat. Seven or eight years ago, consumers made online reservations for airline tickets or other tickets. Then, they started to buy shoes. Ten years ago, no one would have believed that people would buy mattresses online. And yet today, people buy mattresses online. Everything can be bought online and the numbers are growing.

We must make this shift. Many of our members are interested and are curious about this, but they don't quite know how to do it. We are making efforts.

As a matter of fact, at our conference that will be held in a few weeks, many are going to raise the issue of the digital shift to help our members, small and medium-sized businesses as well as the larger ones, make informed decisions.

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

How much time do I have, Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

You have one minute.

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

I have a quick question on the IP side.

On this unique lack of regulation that the patent agents of Canada are missing, there are a number of things. If this self-regulation were put in place, how would it have a positive impact on Canada?

[Jeffrey Astle]

Myself, I passed the exams in 1992 and other than self-educating along the way, I have had no impetus to continue to learn what is going on with the law or what have you.

It is such an important right that you get in these patents, and you need to have someone who understands what they are doing to get it for you. It is a very complex area. The benefit is that there will be a plan of continuing education to allow these people to make sure that their credentials are up to date.

For a large company, it's not as much of an issue. I deal with agents and others within firms from time to time, but for smaller companies that are going to any hole in the wall to get this done, you've got to question whether those people's credentials are up to date. Based on the people I deal with, I think the tendency is for them to be up to date, but it's not clear that it's across the board and uniform. I think that's very important.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you.

We're going to go to Mr. Lobb.

You have five minutes.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Thanks very much.

To the CIPO people, let's suppose I want a trademark. I've got an idea: Huron—Bruce is great. That's my trademark, and I want to go and get that trademark. Then I'm going to sell hats and shirts and I'm going to make a fortune, right?

Just trademark something as basic as that, what does that cost? Would it be $1,500, maybe?

[Jeffrey Astle]

I don't know the answer.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

I think your website recommends I should hire an agent, like a lawyer, to do this.

[Jeffrey Astle]

CIPO is the agency that is part of the government that takes care of this. We're the agents who work outside of that agency to help the clients deal with CIPO.

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

The point is that the website leads me to believe that if I want to do something as basic as just getting a trademark like that, I need an agent or a lawyer. Is this realistic?

[Jeffrey Astle]

I think it is. If you're going to develop—

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

I could do it myself.

[Jeffrey Astle]

You can do it yourself, but as I was saying to somebody today, I could probably perform appendix surgery, but I wouldn't advise anybody to be my patient—but you can do it yourself.