Industry Committee on April 30th, 2020

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

To give you some additional context, we put out a challenge to Canadian companies and, as I said, we are really mobilizing industry, our science community and our highly skilled innovators. Through the National Research Council, as well as innovative solutions Canada, we made a request to different companies and Canadians to see what kinds of solutions they have for home test kits or rapid testing. We received over 100 submissions and we're evaluating them on their merits. I can identify the ones we can scale up in a significant way to complement what we did for the Spartan Bioscience initiative.

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

I would also encourage you and your office to reach out to existing manufacturers elsewhere around the world that have tests that work. We know Abbott Labs, for example, has a device that can provide results in 15 minutes and it has not even sought Canadian approval. I would encourage your office and others in the government to reach out to Abbott and to reach out to other companies. Let's make sure we have these devices, which are in operation elsewhere, in Canada as well.

My last question is in relation to digital contact tracing. I'm curious to know what efforts are under way and whether those efforts are going to build off the work of Google and Apple, which seems to me the most sensible way, with an open API. It seems the most sensible and efficient way to get to digital proximity tracing.

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

When it comes to contact tracing, it is one of the tools that is being discussed fairly often in the media and by the public, and rightfully so, because it's the tool that's being used in South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore with a certain degree of success. We're looking at those international experiences. We are working with a range of companies to understand what solutions they want to provide. The key element here is to make sure that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Unfortunately, Minister, that's all the time we have for that round.

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

I'll come back to that. Sorry about that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you.

Mr. Lemire, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to thank Minister Bains for joining us today.

First, I want to introduce my colleague Mario Simard, our new innovation and science critic. Mr. Bains, you may know that I'm the new Bloc Québécois industry critic. Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, our international trade critic, and Martin Champoux, our communications critic, are also with us. Mr. Champoux will round out my first remarks.

First, I want to talk about land use and the essential matter of access to the cellular network and the Internet. During the current crisis, many workers are teleworking, especially teachers and parents, who must continue their children's education at home. In Abitibi-Témiscamingue, some families need three Internet connections, if we count their cellular connection and their basic network. They need a landline and a cell phone. This situation results in significant additional costs. During this crisis, data limits are being exceeded, the network is becoming significantly overloaded and costs are exploding.

Minister Bains, as part of your mandate, you must ensure that Canadians have both affordable and high-quality Internet, mobile and media access. In this situation, can you commit to carrying out this task?

Do you find it normal that a member from a region such as my area must purchase a satellite phone to keep in touch with people throughout their constituency?

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

Thank you for your question.

You're right. This is an extremely serious and important situation. I understand your concern. High-speed Internet access isn't a luxury. It's absolutely essential. That's why we introduced the connect to innovate program to help many rural communities access high-speed Internet.

My colleague Maryam Monsef will be outlining another solution to improve the situation for many communities.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Minister Bains.

I'll take over from my colleague, while staying on the subject of high-speed Internet access.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I'll stop you for a second. I can't hear the French interpretation. I can hear the English audio, but I can't hear the French audio. I want to make sure that we have the interpretation.

This shows just how much all Quebeckers and Canadians need a high-speed Internet connection. The connection and audio track are very difficult to obtain.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

I'll continue with my question.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Once again, I can't hear the French interpretation.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

There's no French interpretation, Mr. Lemire, since we're already speaking in French. May I suggest that you connect to the “floor” channel?

Minister Bains, I'll come back to my question. You acknowledged that a high-speed Internet connection is now an essential service in 2020. We can see this clearly with the current crisis. When we spoke, you said that you intended to speed up the process and shorten the time frame for connecting Canadians. This means that 100% of Canadians and Quebeckers will be connected within a much more reasonable time frame than initially anticipated.

In your opinion, from this point forward, what will constitute reasonable time frames to ensure that everyone is connected fairly?

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

Once again, thank you for your question.

We must develop another strategy for the time frame. This crisis shows [Technical difficulty—Editor]—

Can you hear me now?

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Your connection is a little erratic, but I can hear you, yes.

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

Thank you for your patience.

You're right and we must change the time frame for [Technical difficulty—Editor] rural Canadians—

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

A point of order, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

We have a point of order on the floor.

Yes, Mr. Dreeshen.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

Madam Chair, on the English side we are hearing the minister speak French loudly and it is difficult to hear the interpreter.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Minister, when you are speaking French, could you make sure that your blue global button is on “French” and not on “floor” or “off” because otherwise the translation is heard at the same volume as you.

Thank you.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Madam Chair, can the remaining time be adjusted? I want to make sure that these interruptions don't affect Mr. Champoux's speaking time and that he'll have time to ask his questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Mr. Lemire, I can assure you that I stopped the clock during the point of order. Mr. Champoux has one minute and 37 seconds left.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you.

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

Once again, thank you for your question.

You're right. We must adjust the time frames for high-speed Internet. My colleague Maryam Monsef is responsible for this initiative. I'm sure that she'll outline solutions that will help people in rural communities.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Am I to understand that you can't provide an estimate at this time, that there's still some uncertainty and that we don't know whether this will take two years or five years?