Industry Committee on April 30th, 2020

[Paul Manly, Green, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Thank you for sharing your time, MP Longfield.

I have a comment for Minister Bains. My brother lives in Taiwan. They're not testing a lot of people there. If you look at the world stats, it's 2,600 tests per million there, compared to 20,000 here in Canada.

Their solution is very simple. They had their first presumptive case on the same day that Canada did. They're down to 429 cases. They've had only six deaths. They just have masks. Everybody wears masks. You can get three masks at the pharmacy. They're like the surgical masks, not the N95, but like those that are made with the K10S pulp that's produced here in my riding, at Harmac. You get three masks a week. In every building you go into, there's hand sanitizer where you enter.

They're not using contact tracing. They're not testing everybody. My brother teaches there. The kids all wear masks, and he wears a mask. They shut down the school for two weeks, and that was it. We need a solution like that here in Canada, so that we can produce masks for citizens and get the economy up and running again.

I also want to know what's being done about the issue of the Internet. I have some constituents who live half a kilometre away from a major development, and Telus and Shaw are saying that it will cost $5,000 for them to get high-speed Internet half a kilometre down the road.

These are two issues that I'm interested in hearing about.

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

I think the Taiwan example is one that we're looking at to see what they've done. We're also looking at what other jurisdictions have done.

Just to illustrate the domestic capacity that we've built to deal with some of those opportunities, the domestic capacity for hand sanitizer is now at 15 million litres per month. That's six Olympic-sized swimming pools. That's an example of the kinds of capacity that we've built within Canada to deal with the reopening of the economy and making sure that people have easy access to hand sanitizers. On masks, we've highlighted the domestic capabilities as well. On Internet connectivity, just very quickly, we'll continue to engage with the telecommunication companies to deal with the digital divide.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you so much, Minister.

It's now Mr. Lemire's turn.

Mr. Lemire, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

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

My first question for the minister is very straightforward. As Minister of Industry, are you prepared to acknowledge that access to the Internet and cellular networks is an essential service?

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

I agree that high-speed Internet isn't a luxury. It's absolutely essential. That's why our government has invested in the connect to innovate program, for example. This program has helped 900 communities across Canada and Quebec. We'll continue to work every day to find solutions to improve the digital economy.

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

You said earlier that the time frame must be changed because the strategy is problematic. In your opinion, what would be a reasonable time frame? The current deadline is 2030. Would 2022, or two to three years from now, be a reasonable deadline?

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

You asked a very good question. My colleague Myriam Monsef is responsible for the strategy. She'll soon be outlining solutions for all Canadians, because this issue is very important to our government. I'm sure that we'll be working with all the members to find solutions.

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

I'll also be working on this issue. In my opinion, the program must be flexible and adapted to the situation in each region. Currently, the programs are ill adapted or not at all adapted to the regional realities. We expect affordable and high-quality cellular and high-speed Internet networks, with fibre optics, LTE or satellite. We also expect that 100% of Quebecers will be able to access these networks, and not 95%, as set out in the current program. I look forward to working on this issue with Minister Monsef.

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

We'll indeed be working together. Thank you for your efforts.

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

A cash infusion is the key to success.

Thank you, Minister Bains.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much.

Our last round of questions in round three go to Brian Masse.

You have two and a half minutes.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

We saw that the Business Development Bank was involved with the loans and the government liquidity programs. They quietly raised their rates to prime effective May 1 and took a 1.75% reduction reference off their website. Were you aware that the BDC is actually raising its borrowing rates right now? What do you think about that, and will there be some intervention in that regard with the BDC?

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

Our overarching objective is to do more, not less, to be flexible and nimble and to help as many Canadians as possible. That's why we put forward these liquidity measures, by making sure that we strengthened the balance sheet of BDC to give out more loans, and we're engaged with them to make sure they come forward with the best possible option. We know how challenging this is for Canadians and Canadian companies, so we'll continue to engage with BDC to determine what the [Technical Difficulty—Editor].

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Just as a follow-up, doesn't it seem kind of absurd that we would be facilitating businesses working with the BDC and at the same time allowing them to raise borrowing costs for businesses that we're trying to save right now?

It would make sense to actually have lower costs. Why does the BDC get away with raising rates at a time when we're trying to facilitate the economy?

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

We want to be sure we help as many businesses as possible. That's why we've given BDC [Technical difficulty—Editor] to provide more support to businesses. They have to do a risk assessment of how they proceed on a going-forward basis to provide more loans and help more companies. [Technical difficulty—Editor]

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Sorry, but there is a translation problem, Madam Chair. Something changed over. Sorry.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

One moment. We're just going to check the translation.

Minister Bains, we are having difficulty hearing you. Therefore, the translators can't actually do the translation.

I'll just check quickly with the clerk and IT to see if they can double-check that.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Could rephrase my question? I had the same problem. Can I quickly rephrase my question so we can get a proper question on the table?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

I will give you one minute, MP Masse. That's about the time it cut out.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

To follow up, it seems patently absurd to engage the BDC as a financial tool to help businesses and at the same time allow them to increase the borrowing rates on the companies we are trying to save right now. Incurred debt from credit cards and borrowing are going to be a significant legacy, so wouldn't it make more sense to have the BDC not raise the interest rates on those businesses we are trying to save right now?

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

Thank you for that question, Brian. I can tell you right now that the goal is to make sure that we get money out as quickly as possible to businesses, particularly those businesses that need it in order to survive the next few months. I will follow up on the issues around rates and program criteria and eligibility with my colleague, Mary Ng, who is responsible for BDC, but I can tell you right now that we have issued hundreds of thousand of loans through our financial institutions and BDC to help small businesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much.

That is the completion of three rounds. Since we still have some time on our clock, we can move into a fourth round.

Minister, are you able to stay with us, or do you need to leave?

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

Thank you very much for the opportunity. I have a prior commitment, but it's been an honour to be here to go through all the questions and all the rounds and have an opportunity to speak to committee members.

Thank you for your hard work. I look forward to the next opportunity to address you on any questions or issues you may have.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you, Minister.

I understand we still have the officials with us. We'll move into the fourth round.

MP Rempel Garner will begin. You have five minutes.

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

I'll be splitting my time with MP Gray.

I'll direct my questions to the deputy minister.

My question is simple. Under the Treasury Board Secretariat Canada directive on privacy impact assessments, government departments and agencies must conduct a privacy impact assessment in a manner that is commensurate with the level of privacy risk identified before establishing any new or substantially modified program or activity involving personal information.

Can the deputy minister confirm if a privacy impact assessment has begun with regard to the potential use of contact tracing apps?