Evidence of meeting #68 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 universities.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:20 a.m.
Liberal
10:20 a.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Thank you.
I'm going to pivot a little. You came back from the United States. I look at these superclusters that are taking place. I also look at the fact that 80% of the Canadian population lives within a few hours of the U.S. border. In developing those personal relationships, it's one of our biggest markets, obviously. Despite the fact that we're growing in other areas, it's the predominant one. There are 40,000 vehicles per day—10,000 trucks and 30,000 cars—that go along two miles of the border, three kilometres on the Canadian side and two miles on the American side.
The opportunity is there, but how can we best access it? I don't see this competition. I know they have different laws. We have British common law as our basis, but how do we take advantage? I'm from Windsor. I know the University of Windsor has a common law society program for Canadian and American law.
Why don't we start building on some of those assets to drive some Canadian innovation into their markets as opposed to shipping the stuff out and then getting it back? What can we do better to drive it out there? There was mention of Sault Ste. Marie. We have a whole bunch of medium-sized cities, and south of the border.... I don't think we're utilizing that. I just put that out there. How can we use that as the doorstep of the United States instead of...? The assumption is that we get washed over.
I know in the community I come from, there are no prouder Canadians, but we're also integrated with the United States, and we actually use that to a competitive advantage, sending 10,000 nurses and doctors per day over to the United States because they're better educated, better trained, and they can out-compete.
I'll start with Ms. Johnston and go across the board here.
10:20 a.m.
Vice-President, Policy and Public Affairs, Universities Canada
I really appreciate your raising that, because I think the University of Windsor is a great example of an institution that has really been innovative in the collaborative programs that touch on cross-border issues and partnerships with their counterparts across the border.
There is one initiative that is starting to ramp up. We're looking at, with our colleagues at the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities in the United States and our Mexican counterparts—I'm including more of a NAFTA context—whether we can start building a common research platform that brings in industry partners around some specific areas of common interest. We're looking at things like the energy file, climate change, and other common issues that will be important for us to tackle from building those partnerships, and then bringing in industry partners to help us think through what kind of research programs we need to build.
I also think that getting our students moving back and forth is really a critical part of this so that they're building an understanding of what's going on in each other's countries. We've had a lot of American students, particularly since the election, very interested in coming to Canada and studying here over the longer term. We also feel it's really important to ensure our Canadian students are getting out for some experience, more in the short term, to be exposed to the different citizen, business, political, and other cultures to understand how best to work with American partners.
Those are just a couple of thoughts.
10:25 a.m.
Executive Director, North of 41
I agree. One thing that has to happen in the overall tech community here, and it's great.... We're at close proximity to the U.S., but we also have to be cognizant of looking at other tech ecosystems, such as in Israel. One thing that happens with Israel is they focus on one or two things, and they're really good at it. That allows them to be out there to compete in the global marketplace.
In the case of the Windsor-Detroit area, what would be perfect down there? One thing I could never understand, and maybe it will happen some day, is that there isn't—and there should be—a centre of global security excellence down there. You're on a border. You have assets on both sides. You could tie in cybersecurity as part of this and really leverage what is in that area, no different than....
I'm not from Sault Ste. Marie, but where you have the mines and forestry and whatever, that becomes a natural fit. For us in Canada, we have to look at what we have here that makes a natural fit with the U.S. and run with it.
10:25 a.m.
Managing Director, Mistral Venture Partners
I'll pull on a thread that Jeff mentioned, and that is, after spending 20 years in the U.S. and the rest of my career in Canada, one thing I noticed is that Canadians love to compete with Canadians, but they're afraid of that imaginary border just south of us, and I find that ironic.
It happens a lot where I'll meet an entrepreneur in Canada and he'll say, “Oh, you're from Silicon Valley. The streets are paved with gold. It's amazing.” Well, it's not, and I can tell you that it's no different there than it is here. I hear the common refrain that it's easy to get funding. Well, it isn't, it really isn't. The laws of supply and demand make that the case.
Having said that, I think the border is artificial, and we do need to leverage relationships, proximity, culture, and language, etc. I think we need to get over ourselves. We need to be less conservative and a little bit more sort of intellectually honest with the facts.
As a firm, we do that all day long. For every dollar we put out, I think the average right now is $8 or $9 U.S. that come into our companies, and we're absolutely taking advantage of that fact.
10:25 a.m.
Some hon. members
Hear, hear!
10:25 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
We touched on a couple of things.
Mr. Lobb asked if you could present the breakdown to us. If you could send that to the clerk, that would be great. We have online submissions until July 31, so if you have anything along the lines of measurables or anything you want to add, please feel free to submit them before July 31.
Did you have a question, Mr. Masse?
10:25 a.m.
NDP
10:25 a.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
That's unfortunate. I just thought it was important to get that on the record, and then they can also make submissions. I just thought that was important because it was raised.
10:25 a.m.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer—Mountain View, AB
On the same issue, Mr. Musson mentioned the significance of broadband. That also is a study we're dealing with.
Perhaps if you have something that you'd like to contribute there, we also have a time frame this summer to get briefs. If you wouldn't mind—
10:25 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
We are actually accepting briefs for broadband as well.
I want to thank everybody for the great testimony. We're going to suspend for a very quick two minutes to say goodbye to everybody, but we're limited on time. We have a few things to take care of. Thank you.
[Proceedings continue in camera]