Industry Committee on April 29th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you, Minister.

Our next round of questions goes to MP Rempel Garner.

You have five minutes.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

That's actually a great bridge into my line of questions.

My questions are directed to Minister Joly. The amount of funding that Canadian companies typically invest in clean technology on an annual basis is about $1.4 billion. Can the minister tell the committee whether she knows what percentage of that is invested by oil and gas companies.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I'm not the minister in charge of energy, but I can definitely forward that question to my colleague, Seamus O'Regan.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Well, it's actually a pretty important question for a minister who's in charge of Western Diversification, because the clean-tech sector is a big part of that diversification.

I'm just wondering whether you'd want to hazard a guess, given that you're the minister in charge of that, on what percentage of $1.4 billion the oil and gas sector spends on clean tech.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Well, you've been the minister in charge of WD, so you know that ministers don't hazard guesses. What you also know is that WD is definitely there to diversify the economy, and we're there to support the clean-tech sector and definitely will be there to support more funding through IRAP and also through WD.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

It's actually 75%. Seventy-five per cent of Canadian corporate expenditures on clean tech come from the oil and gas sector. Have you done any analysis on how much that's going to decrease by this year, given the devastation to the energy sector?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Well, we know that the energy sector is devastated, and I hear you, Michelle. I know this is tough for the people you represent in your neck of the woods—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

You know, I'm really—

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

—in Calgary—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

—[Inaudible—Editor] with the platitudes on that particular issue, so forgive me if I don't want to hear it.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I'm sorry, Michelle. I can't hear you well. What did you say?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

The point I'm trying to make is that—

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I'm sorry. The line is choppy.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

The point I'm trying to make is that 75% of clean-tech investments in Canada come from the oil and gas sector, and that's about to significantly drop, given the crisis that the energy sector has.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I'm sorry, Madam Chair, but I can't hear her very well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

One moment, please. I'll pause the clock, Madame Rempel Garner. We're going to check the connection.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

That's convenient.

[A voice]

Okay?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Yes. Thank you.

The reality is, that's a big hole in diversification efforts. Your colleague Catherine McKenna posted a tweet recently that talked about the COVID-19 recovery and said that recovery efforts should be focused on “meaningful jobs”.

Would you characterize the jobs in the energy sector for, let's say, rig workers, chemical engineers and people who are responsible for oil and gas developments, as meaningful jobs?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I think all jobs are meaningful in the country, and I think we're really in an adventure right now, like a mission, to save all jobs.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Then why have you not provided any meaningful support to the energy sector in terms of, for example, some of the main issues that the energy sector has been bringing up, issues like government-backed access to credit or anything? The energy sector itself has said that the orphan well program is not going to do anything, so how can you make that assertation, claim to be the minister for WD and then support a government that has done nothing to support the energy sector?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Well, the WD idea is to make sure that there's greater diversification, so we want to make sure that we increase the funding of WD and support businesses that are going through a cash crunch right now.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Have you, as the minister—

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I'll just finish my answer.

As well, I think we need to work with the oil and gas sector and with Premier Kenney and Premier Moe, and that's exactly why we came up with this new funding.

You were saying that there was no credit and no support to the oil and gas sector. I want to correct you, because that's false. We just came up with a new support to help them—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Well, everybody in Alberta knows—