Industry Committee on Nov. 28th, 2016

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

What we're saying is that we're developing a program that will have those different dimensions to it. Ultimately, the investment that we're talking about, the $500 million, that fibre to an institute or potentially to a home, is all about making sure that we have support from the private sector.

The way this model will be designed is to make sure the government plays a role—

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

No, but I'm interested in your definition of the last mile, because I've sat around enough tables and talked to people about what the definition of last mile is. If your definition of a last mile is a municipal building, I think you're wrong.

What is your definition of last mile, at 5 megabits per second? Is it to a farm? Is it to a rural light manufacturing facility? What exactly is it?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

As I said, fibre to the institute would be to schools, universities, and hospitals. That's how I define that, and that's the commitment we made in our budget.

The last mile does speak to exactly what you alluded to, someone's home, for example, in a rural or remote community, so I think our definitions are fairly consistent.

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

Okay, we'll hold you to that.

My next question is on the Canada 150 funding. Is it your belief that it's the best use of taxpayers' dollars to fund religious facilities, such as churches and mosques?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

I believe we have a criteria that really wants to focus on promoting Canada's diversity. What we do is make these funds available, and individuals have an opportunity to apply. There's a proper vetting process. Based on that vetting process, we get recommendations, and based on those recommendations, we approve the projects. I think—

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

Do you see a potential issue with small communities and small areas trying to fix a baseball diamond or trying to fix a community centre, and then they find out on the news that a church or a mosque in the city received $200,000? Do you see how these communities could be quite frustrated, considering there's no taxes paid by these facilities?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

I think the challenge is that when you have $150 million allocated to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary, and this amount of money is allocated to all the regions across the country, there's going to be a resource challenge. I understand there might be frustration for individuals who have applied and haven't received a successful response.

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

I would have suggested not funding religious facilities. That would have been a good way to spread the money around further.

You mentioned NAFTA, and we know the Prime Minister has talked about reopening NAFTA. Can you name me one tariff in the manufacturing sector that you would be advocating for Canada to reduce or eliminate?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

As you know, the North American Free Trade Agreement has been in place since 1994, and it has had minor changes, I think 11 changes, since then.

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

You're the industry minister. You're responsible for manufacturing in this country. Just give me one tariff that you're looking at to fix up or to reduce, to make us more competitive, just one.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

We haven't gotten to that stage. The point I was going to make about the North American Free Trade Agreement is that—

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

You're telling me that your officials haven't mentioned one tariff in NAFTA that you would want to advocate to the Minister of International Trade to represent manufacturers in this country, not one?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

No, I'm saying that we will always advance our national interests. I'm saying we'll always find opportunities for our manufacturers to have greater access to the U.S.

What I'm saying is that, right now, we're not at the stage of negotiating anything in NAFTA, and it would be premature for me to—

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

How can you negotiate if you don't even know which tariff you want to eliminate?

We'll get off that one, because it sounds to me like it's zero.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

Okay.

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

The next one I want to talk about is Statistics Canada. Can you tell me if there are any issues that are considered red light, right now, between Stats Canada and Shared Services Canada? Can you tell us if there are any in the red light zone right now?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

Sure. As you know, and there's been a fair amount of media attention to this, as well, the former chief statistician raised some issues with respect to Stats Canada and Shared Services.

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

Which was correct, by the way.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

If you could allow me to now to continue the response, then I would do so. I would appreciate the opportunity to respond.

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

Go ahead.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

I am doing so, and you're more than welcome to ask another question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

We're actually out of time.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

As I was saying, the former chief statistician raised this issue, and I'm confident that both Stats Canada and Shared Services Canada will find a solution.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you. We're going to move over to Mr. Baylis. You have five quick minutes.

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

Thank you for being here, Mr. Minister.

One of the areas that I'm quite interested in is regional economic strategy and the emphasis that we're putting on regional development, such as ACOA, FedNor, FedDev, and all that.

I was particularly happy to see the Atlantic growth strategy come into being. Could you speak a little about that, and how that's going to impact the Atlantic provinces? What are your thoughts to expand that kind of program?