Industry Committee on Feb. 27th, 2020

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

Very quickly, the entire idea of the tourism strategy is to help local economies, towns, be able to diversify themselves, particularly in rural regions.

That's why we created the Canadian experiences fund and it's managed through WD. I must say that WD didn't do a lot of tourism projects in the past. By making tourism a priority for all the regional development agencies, we're actually pushing the needle in the right direction. If you have a particular project, it would be great to be able to talk with you about it.

There is more to come when it comes to our national strategy, to attract private investments, particularly where there are national parks. We could have that conversation.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Sure, thanks.

Tracy, do you have—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Unfortunately, that's it.

We only have about two minutes left. I'd like to give Mr. Erskine-Smith two minutes, and then we will proceed with the votes.

Mr. Erskine-Smith.

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

Thanks very much.

I was also happy to see James Cameron come into Saskatchewan because I think plant-based foods and pulses will continue to increase in our economy going forward.

I want to pick up on Jeremy's question. Not to pick on any particular project per se, but when we look at corporate support or subsidies, whatever we want to call them, we see there are sometimes instances when federal support will mean leveraging private sector dollars. In other cases, federal support doesn't really leverage the private sector dollars because they would have been invested anyway. The jobs would have been created regardless.

My question can be for the minister or Mr. Kennedy. I would be curious about the framework and the metrics that you bring to bear to assess how we know that this investment isn't going to be made in the first place, and that it's a wise one.

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

I can talk to you about the philosophy behind it.

We're in a global economy. Many countries around the world are trying to attract the best investments. In the protein sector, that's the case. We're in competition with other countries that grow different pulses. We know that we're a safe country, a country that is open for business, that wants to attract the best investors. Our way is to make sure that there are some levers that come from the federal government, that can also come from the provinces, to attract this capital.

Obviously, the federal government is not the one investing the most. The private sector is.

I also think this sector is still going through lots of disruptions while there are trade issues happening. Jeremy, my colleague, would be very much aware of that. At the same time, we need more and more not only to grow our different products, but also to be able to transform them here. That's why we're trying to work with the Province of Saskatchewan, with many places across the country, in order to create good-paying jobs. It's true that sometimes this industry is cyclical. We can make sure that there's some more stability.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Madam Minister, unfortunately that is all the time we have.

I want to thank you, madame la ministre , for your participation today, and Mr. McConnachie and Mr. Kennedy.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. It was a pleasure.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

We have some votes on the supplementary estimates (B), so I ask the members to stay for a moment.

Can I get unanimous consent to lump together the votes that we have to do today?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

ATLANTIC CANADA OPPORTUNITIES AGENCY

Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$3,932

Vote 5b—Grants and contributions...........$3,457,536

(Votes 1b and 5b agreed to on division)

CANADIAN NORTHERN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY

Vote 5b—Grants and contributions..........$500,000

(Vote 5b agreed to on division)

CANADIAN SPACE AGENCY

Vote 5b—Capital expenditures..........$69,178,862

Vote 10b—Grants and contributions..........$930,000

(Votes 5b and 10b agreed to on division)

DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY

Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$2,696,570

Vote 10b—Grants and contributions..........$67,926,793

(Votes 1b and 10b agreed to on division)

DEPARTMENT OF WESTERN ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION

Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$49,043

Vote 5b—Grants and contributions..........$5,524,559

(Votes 1b and 5b agreed to on division)

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF CANADA FOR THE REGIONS OF QUEBEC

Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$34,622

Vote 5b—Grants and contributions..........$2,790,618

(Votes 1b and 5b agreed to on division)

FEDERAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY FOR SOUTHERN ONTARIO

Vote 1b—Operating expenditures..........$46,519

Vote 5b—Grants and contributions..........$4,434,631

(Votes 1b and 5b agreed to on division)

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA

Vote 5b—Capital expenditures..........$1,375,185

Vote 10b—Grants and contributions..........$5,560,708

(Votes 5b and 10b agreed to on division)

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL

Vote 5b—Grants..........$1

(Vote 5b agreed to on division)

Shall the chair report the votes on the supplementary estimates (B) to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much.

The meeting is adjourned.