Industry Committee on April 14th, 2016

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

—so we're clear on this one.

At any rate, one of the things that was brought forward by former member of Parliament Dan McTeague was the weekly publishing of a petroleum inventory report to be done in Canada, similar to the Department of Energy's “Weekly Petroleum Status Report” in the United States. We called for this to be done by a separate ombudsman officer to make sure that Canadians are protected at the pumps. At that time, Minister Goodale and Minister McCallum adopted it, but later on it was dropped by the next administration.

This way, they get the Friday publications and it's published on Wednesday. It provides some independence. This also fits within protecting and rejuvenating the independence of our civil servants for that. I know that the response has been about the Competition Bureau, and they have tackled a few things on that, but I liken that to attacking an elephant with a flyswatter.

I just put it to you, even if we don't do it at the Competition Bureau, is there any way to actually get a bit more consumer accountability for pricing with regard to the oil and gas industry? I want to give you time, so I don't want to get into the whole issue of why it's necessary.

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

I know why it's necessary, because I heard it at the doors. The issue is not—

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

You have 30 seconds.

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

I'll be very quick, Chair.

I heard it at the doors. It was more prevalent when gas prices were high. It becomes less prevalent when gas prices decline, but the bottom line is that it's about competition and fairness, regardless of what the price level is. I want to quickly highlight that we'll take into account what you've said, but this is a real issue that impacts people. It's a pocketbook issue, and it's a meaningful issue that we can't take lightly.

You're right, in that the Competition Bureau does have a provision to look at this issue against price-fixing, etc. This was discussed in the late show by my parliamentary secretary, who did an eloquent job and can do a much better job of talking about this issue.... He highlighted, and I want to highlight too, that 33 individuals and seven companies have pled guilty under the Competition Bureau for these kinds of price-fixing problems. We've had $4 million in fines and 54 months of total combined jail time for these individuals. There has been punishment given out for those who try to cut corners and take advantage of the system.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you very much.

Here's where we stand. In the interests of time and being fair, I've reallocated. We're into our last rounds. If we keep it tight and stick to it, we could get through. We'll do three minutes for each question. Everybody will have three minutes. We should be able to get through with most of our questions answered if we keep it tight.

Ms. Mendès, you have three minutes.

[Alexandra Mendes, Liberal, Brossard—Saint-Lambert, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I again have a question for Minister Chagger.

Tourism Canada is one of our most significant export services, or services exports, and represents close to 2% of our GDP, with 600,000 domestic jobs, yet we haven't had a national strategy in tourism since 2011. From 2000 to 2014, Canada dropped from the rank of eighth in world standings to 17th. Do you think there would be something coming from your ministry to develop and to help Canada's competitiveness in the tourism industry recover?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

This government is taking tourism very seriously. It is an industry that is really important in driving the economy forward.

To an earlier point, we talked about under-represented groups within the tourism sector. The majority of the jobs are going to people 35 years of age and younger. They're good jobs, and it's meaningful employment, so we are serious about a strategy moving forward. The budget showed a commitment of $50 million over two years to Destination Canada, the crown marketing agency for the nation.

In the short time that I've been in this role, I've travelled to Boston for the Boston Globe show. When we were there I was excited because I love my nation, but my tourism industry partners were also excited because for the first time—I thought it was fascinating that it was the first time—Canada was in one pavilion. What's been happening in the past is that provinces and territories have had to represent themselves, but for the first time we have Destination Canada, which I understand came to the committee and is actually working with all the provinces and territories to ensure they are represented.

The best brand we have within this nation is our nation's brand. It's Canada. That's where people come. People actually come to Canada to visit, and that's what will create those jobs and what will generate the revenues. The tourism industry is a $90-billion industry. It's not a small deal. It's a big deal.

What we're also doing through Destination Canada is working with the border communities. The gateway communities—and please don't let me misrepresent this—are very important. The gateway communities actually bring people into our nation so that they can discover the rural and remote areas and so forth, but it's the border communities that actually bring in our number one trading partner, our cousins to the south, as I always say, so that they come to visit. They come to see Canada and they're able to recognize what we have to offer.

From travelling this nation, I know that the Canadian experiences we have are amazing. Canada is the only country in the world in which you can travel the entire world in one nation. You can eat food from around the world in one nation. You can hear languages from around the world in one nation. That's our strength. So yes, we will definitely be working on a strategy to ensure that we are present internationally.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Nuttall, you have three minutes.

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Very quickly, I have one clarification for Mr. Bains.

Mr. Bains, are you the minister responsible for the Bombardier file?

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

Chair, the request was made to my department on December 11 of up to $1 billion with respect to Bombardier.

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Thank you. That was $1 billion U.S., I believe, right?

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

Pardon?

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

That was $1 billion U.S.

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

That is correct.

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Thank you.

Very quickly, I have two questions for you, Minister Chagger. I do want to say that you can tell there's some frustration around this committee table, because one of the largest issues facing your government has been blocked from being dealt with at the committee that's responsible for it.

Quickly, Mr. Chair, through you to Minister Chagger, yesterday you said in the House of Commons, Minister, that you've lowered taxes on small businesses. In your mandate letter, it says that you are to work with the Minister of Finance on the small business tax rate reduction to make sure it's implemented. That did not happen. There was previously approved legislation with timing to outline a reduction from 11% to 10.5% and eventually to 9%. The budget states that's being deferred.

The cost of that is roughly $900 million Canadian. Do you think it's fair to small business people that they are not given the promised tax cut and that money then can be diverted to a large corporation like Bombardier Inc.?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair.

As we know, this topic has been receiving a lot of attention. I have said time and time again that I am working closely with stakeholders across the nation. We are listening to Canadians. Small business owners want a strong economy and they want strong consumers, and we are helping to deliver that within the commitments we have made in the budget. October 19 was a great day for Canada and a great day for this government, because we did receive a majority mandate from Canadians, so I assure you this is the first of four budgets that we will be presenting.

On the point of—

[Alex Nuttall, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

But you did not follow through on the promises you made to the people in order to get that majority government, so why is that? How do you feel about the funds being diverted to other places instead of following through on those conditions, that contract you made with the people of Canada?

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Chair, the member speaks of tax savings. This actually isn't even about tax savings. It's about doing the right thing. This government is committed to working with small business owners. We recognize that there are certain loopholes that exist. We are not going to be delivering band-aid solutions. I'm working closely with the Minister of Finance.

This government is taking a whole-of-government approach. It's something that's not been seen probably within my lifetime, I would say, and it's something that's going to take us forward. We are looking to grow our economy. We're looking to strengthen small businesses. We know that they're the backbone of the economy, and I assure you that we will represent them well.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Masse, you have three minutes.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you.

Before I move on to the Minister of Tourism, I do want to say that with regard to oil and gas, I hope the minister looks at some of the reporting that's taking place in the United States and how we can actually mirror that here. I think that was the question, to essentially get that in some way possible.

At any rate, I do want to move on to the border. You raised it, Madam Minister, and I'm not going to shy away from the border at any point in time. In fact I could have a three-day filibuster on that. But right now I only have two and a half minutes—

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Exactly.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

—and I want to make sure I leave you some time.

Basically, in my riding 40% of international trade takes place on the Windsor-Detroit corridor on two kilometres, between a tunnel, a bridge, a ferry service, and now a new tunnel, with a second tunnel for rail. The frustration is high with regard to the western hemisphere travel initiative, the requirement of Americans to get Canadian passports to come into Canada and then get back to the United States. Many Americans won't do it for privacy reasons and so forth.

I've been literally begging for years to try to get some type of a program to support that Canadian stuff, including Americans getting passports. There have been some private sector pushes for that. I'll give you an example, and then I'll turn it over to you on how to bring American visitation to.... I have my ideas, but I want to make sure you have at least a minute.

Along this corridor, we don't even have a “Welcome to Canada” sign. As well, the Province of Ontario closed the tourism centre where you come into Canada, so the first thing you see, when you come across the Ambassador Bridge, is a rail track. It doesn't have anything else. That's how bad the situation is with regard to promoting Canada.

I wanted to leave you some time to lay out what you're doing for tourism from the U.S. coming into Canada.

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The connecting America program will help ensure that our visitors from the south are able to come. The nice thing about Destination Canada's marketing campaign is that we are targeting the communities who are wanting to come to Canada. Another point I would like to make—I believe the member and I would get along just great—is that the $50 million into Destination Canada will be of benefit.

I will remind the member as well that this conversation does not need to take place only at the committee table. My office door is open. I welcome any feedback. I am here to work with members from all sides of the House. We know the tourism industry is a job creator. We know it is an economic driver. I assure you that not only are we listening but we're engaging. We're hearing perspectives from all walks of life. I welcome the opportunity.

I personally would love to see more Canadian flags across the nation. I would like to see more signs. I think our airports also have a role to play.

I'll go back to the point about the whole-of-government approach. You'll notice that even within our department we work closely together. We are constantly raising those issues that we are hearing and engaging. That's what I think is really important and will help address a lot of those concerns.

I thank you for raising that, and please fly that Canadian flag high.