Industry Committee on June 1st, 2020

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair. Allow me to also thank all of the individuals who have appeared before our committee today. Perhaps I should thank them and also apologize for the procedural wrangling that occurred earlier.

My first question would be for Mr. Kryski.

Thank you so much for your testimony. You obviously highlighted the need for us, as a country, to support innovators and entrepreneurs, and I can assure you that's something that's been very much a part of our focus at the federal government. As you've suggested, these are difficult times. I believe you said that the future is bright. Some of the developments we've seen have been incredible, but the future is also at risk.

Given that you're based in Alberta, what do you envision the role of provincial governments to be? As you know, we have seen historic levels of federal investment, but it's also important that the provinces be part of that effort. I say this against the backdrop of having seen that, in Alberta for example, at Alberta Innovates, for the second time in a year, there were budget cuts. They laid off over 100 employees.

Could you tell us what your thoughts are on that and how crucial it is that provinces also be there to support entrepreneurs and researchers?

[Eric Kryski]

Thanks for the question.

I think it's critical that we have support from the federal, municipal and provincial levels working in harmonization towards this. Particularly, when the NDP came in provincially, we did see a lot of that really start to take shape with their introduction of the Alberta investor tax credit program. Unfortunately, we don't have a program now as a result, so that's something I would love to see reinstated.

I think this is where, potentially, matching from provincial governments alongside federal government matching, specifically for angel investment and venture capital investment, would be critical to helping diversify and support Alberta-based businesses. Across the Prairies and even in B.C., we are still at very serious risk here in the west. The economic climate is very different than in Quebec and Ontario in terms of venture capital and angel investment, so it's imperative, now more than ever, that we actually have some of this harmonized support rapidly.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Absolutely, thank you very much for that.

I would be remiss if I didn't ask Dr. McDonald a question.

Dr. McDonald, you touched on the significance of international co-operation and how that is crucial. Given your lengthy expertise, would you perhaps share with us what the federal government can do to better support open science and open-source licensing?

[Dr. Arthur McDonald]

Open science and open-source licensing are two separate questions.

Open science, I think, is important. In fact, it was addressed in the fundamental science review for the federal government to have a straightforward ability to connect the federal government with international projects. People who come forward with ideas where Canada can collaborate with other countries have some difficulty in understanding exactly to whom they should be speaking. The chief science adviser is certainly one person who is clearly in the middle of this, but on the question of whether you go to NRC, CFI or NSERC—the various agencies—it's important to perhaps centralize the approach to international co-operation a bit more in Ottawa.

One of the things, certainly, that we recommended in that fundamental science review was the creation of a major overview committee on science, technology and innovation, with external experts. That has been slow in coming. There actually was a call a year ago for people to indicate interest in participating, but it hasn't happened yet.

That committee could deal with large-scale international co-operation and would be a good idea.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you, Dr. McDonald.

Our next round of questions goes to MP Gray.

You have five minutes.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I was speaking the other day with a manufacturing company that makes cleaning supplies that use spray bottles. They were saying that they can ramp up their production really quickly; however, they can't get the nozzles for the tops of their spray bottles because they come from China, and they're just not able to get them.

I have a question for our representative from StarFish. As you're looking at putting this ventilator system together, how are you finding the parts that you're getting? I understand that it will be produced in Canada, but as you're acquiring all the different parts, are they all within Canada or do you have to access parts from elsewhere? Are you having any issues with that?

[John Walmsley]

As you say, manufacturing is happening in Canada. There are some specialist components in the system. We selected this system as something where many of the parts could be made in Canada with technology that's available. I would say that key parts we're sourcing are sensors and some of the pneumatic components, where specialist industries exist elsewhere in the world. We've been sourcing the components from there.

As we do this, in terms of the volumes that we're asking for on the timelines that we're working with—and with companies that we don't have existing relationships with—sometimes it's been a little slow. That has been helped by our supply chain expertise that our subcontractor Celestica has brought, but still, getting all the parts to arrive in time is definitely a big part of the challenge.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you for that.

I have a question for Dynamite Network. What an interesting project it sounds like you're working on with getting these veterans to work on cybersecurity. Can you maybe explain a bit of what the process is as you bring on these veterans and if you have any challenges technologically? Do you send out certain computers and technology to them so that they can operate? Can you just describe a bit of how that works? As well, how are you finding these veterans? How do they come to you, or do you go out and find them?

[Jeff Musson]

I'll quickly reply to all of these very interesting questions.

To start off, where do we find them? Last year my team and I visited 18 different military bases as part of their job fairs. We actually went right to the source. The problem was that at the moment COVID-19 hit, that was our main source for doing outreach, so we switched to a social media strategy. What was amazing was that we saw an increase in numbers when we used social media for outreach to get people into the program.

As for the program itself, from the outset we designed it to be taught 100% online, with professors. We set up virtual labs that simulate what it is like to work inside a cyber-operations centre. For the curriculum that's part of this program, we talked to our big banks. We talked to our partners Cisco, Amazon and IBM as well. We asked them a question: What are the specific skill sets that you require when you hire these individuals? That's how the curriculum became very much all-encompassing. I can send you a brief synopsis.

The last thing we did was introduced an organizational behaviour course that's mandatory for all people. Those who have already released from the military are teaching the cultural aspects and the differences between life in the military and life in the tech world.

That's how we were able to do that.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you very much.

There's one other question I really want to get in here. It has to do with veterans who are going online.

Do you have any issues with their connections, with broadband? Are a lot of the veterans in major centres? Are they in rural areas? How are you finding that? Are there issues with their connecting and being able to access and do the work and get the education that they've signed up for?

[Jeff Musson]

You just hit a bit of a road bump that we've identified, which we're going to need the federal government's help on. The vast majority of veterans are able to get access because they have high speed. However, there are those in more remote locations who require satellite connections, and that starts getting very cost-prohibitive. Not having an Internet connection has actually prevented a couple of people from coming into this program.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

That's a real shame. It's not equal access to all veterans, then, unfortunately. It depends on where they live.

[Jeff Musson]

It depends on your Internet connection. The good news is that it's affecting fewer and fewer people, but it's something to work on.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much.

Unfortunately, that's all the time we have for today. I'd like to thank the witnesses.

With that, the meeting is adjourned.