Evidence of meeting #86 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 jobs.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
Thank you very much.
We continue our lightning round with Terry for two minutes.
Liberal
Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Minister, thank you very much for your presentation.
As the chair of the northern Ontario caucus I'd be remiss to not thank you for the increase in the funding for FedNor in the 2017 budget.
In my opinion, regional economic development agencies are a great equalizer, creating fairness for Canadians from coast to coast to coast, because you should be able to live wherever you want and create opportunities. What role will regional economic development agencies be playing going forward?
Liberal
Navdeep Bains Liberal Mississauga—Malton, ON
They'll play a very prominent role. That's why they are mentioned as part of the title, Innovation, Science and Economic Development. The roles of the regional development agencies have been elevated. Not only have we put forward strategies, for example, the Atlantic growth strategy, and we're working through FedNor to have a strategy for northern Ontario, but we've also increased funding, so there are more resources for diversification and job creation, focusing on the Internet and connectivity, for example, in some of these rural and remote communities. We're proud of the fact that we've increased funding for ACOA, CanNor, CEDQ, WD, and renewed the mandate for FedDev. That just highlights how important RDAs are to our economic agenda.
Liberal
Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Very quickly, superclusters have been asked about and you mentioned where they're going. One thing about the superclusters is they were oversubscribed in northern Ontario especially, but it had people talking for the first time in many cases. What are we going to do with the people who aren't short-listed?
Liberal
Navdeep Bains Liberal Mississauga—Malton, ON
We're going to have a pathway initiative. We're going to look at what other programs and initiatives exist and how we can continue to work with them to continue to promote that collaboration. In some cases, that collaboration and conversation is still taking place, which is really part of the success of this initiative to bring people together. At the same time, we wanted to be very focused. We wanted to have a competitive process, and we want the best ideas to emerge and set an ambitious agenda for Canada when it comes to superclusters because it's great for Canadian companies, and it's great for global investment as well.
Liberal
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Mr. Minister, as I'm sure you agree, the NDP has long believed that Canada's automotive industry is a key driver of our economy. It represents about 10% of GDP, about 13% of our total merchandise exports, and it employs over half a million Canadians directly and indirectly. Can you highlight briefly what your government is doing to retain and attract new automotive investment in Canada?
November 28th, 2017 / 1:10 p.m.
Liberal
Navdeep Bains Liberal Mississauga—Malton, ON
I started my career at Ford Motor Company of Canada.
I'm very familiar with the automotive sector. Under our government, I'm very proud to say that we've secured 2.6 billion dollars' worth of automotive mandates, the big one being the Ford investment. The key feature is that, not only are we getting mandates to build cars, but we're getting mandates to build the cars of tomorrow. With the investment in autonomous and connected vehicles, there's $500 million that Ford invested.
It's really about securing that footprint in Canada. You talked about the 500,000 jobs, both direct and indirect. It's also the focus on technology. In order to do that, we launched a global skills strategy program to allow car companies, and other sectors as well, to have access to top Canadian talent and global talent, so they maintain their R and D centres here in Canada. That's where a lot of these connected autonomous vehicle initiatives are taking place.
The reality is that people don't talk about horsepower anymore when they talk about vehicles. They talk about software power. We want to be a leader in this area. We'll continue to work with car companies to get additional mandates going forward.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
As we note, it's also a global industry.
I'm a little uncertain about your government's position on the TPP. We know the rules of origin particularly in automotive are of concern to Canadian manufacturers. We hear that Japan wants to have 70% of their parts secured from cheap production countries.
I'm wondering whether that concerns your government. Will Canada sign on to a TPP that has that kind of provision in it?
Liberal
Navdeep Bains Liberal Mississauga—Malton, ON
Make no mistake that rules of origin is an important issue not only in TPP, but with respect to discussions under NAFTA as well. We are going to make sure that we fight vigorously to have thresholds that make sense to maintain an integrated supply chain in North America.
When it comes to the TPP, we need to make sure that we have a deal in place, if we proceed down that path, that will protect the automotive sector.
Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
Chair, I just have further information on PromoScience.
As you identified, the $3.5 million in budget 2017, is part of a ramp-up of the NSERC program on PromoScience. This program is dedicated to supporting non-profits in the support of stem cells. I think the additional funding is particularly targeted to women in science and indigenous youth.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Mr. Chair, could I ask Mr. Knubley to send to the committee the percentages that the minister referred to about full-time and part-time jobs that have been created since 2015? It's fine if he just sends that by post to the committee.
Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
Yes, we'll do that.
As I've said, what we have here is that, since November 2015, 507,600 jobs have been created, but I don't have the breakdown for full-time or part-time jobs.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
Please forward that to the clerk.
I want to thank everybody for collaborating to get through this. Unfortunately, there's not much that we can do.
I would like to thank the minister and his partners for sticking around for an extra 15 minutes.
Mr. Knubley, thank you very much. Ms. Setlakwe, thank you very much.
The meeting is adjourned.
