Industry Committee on Feb. 27th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Unfortunately, Ms. Gray, that is all the time you have; my apologies.

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

Okay, thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Next we have Mr. Jowhari.

You have six minutes.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Let me start by welcoming you, Mr. Kennedy, to our committee. We look forward to working with you very closely.

In your opening statement you mentioned that the ISED objective is to support economic growth, and the way to promote economic growth is through a more dynamic and innovative Canadian economy.

You talked about a lot of the supplementary estimates we are reviewing today being focused on investments. Specifically you talked about some of the funding around the Canadian digital research infrastructure strategy and women entrepreneurship as well as the Canadian experiences fund.

I'd like to start by asking you to expand on Canada's digital research infrastructure strategy. How much funding is being allocated? What is the objective? How have we progressed?

[Simon Kennedy]

One of the key things needed by the research community, as members will know, is access to high-performance computing. People talk colloquially about super-computing, basically access to the computing firepower needed to conduct analyses and do research. That is fundamentally what the digital research infrastructure strategy is about. The effort is to develop a new and improved way to invest in and work with the research community to make available high-performance computing.

We've been consulting with the research community, and I'll just refer here to the specific amount. The strategy was announced in budget 2018, at five years and $572 million. Most of the funding was accessed last year.

There is a remaining portion that is pending a decision on the winning recipient to become the new entity that will actually manage the strategy. That's what this funding in the estimates is about.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

As you said, most of the funding has already been, let's say—

[Simon Kennedy]

—made available to the institutions.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Can you give us an example of some of the funding; to whom it has gone, and what the result has been?

[Simon Kennedy]

I can come back to the committee with that information

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you.

You also talked about the government's launching the clean growth hub. In your preamble you talked about the innovation portal that we're using.

In many interventions in my riding, I often talk about the Innovation.Canada.ca portal and the great tool that it is. I say that this is a way for us to teach everyone, especially small businesses, how to fish, so that they can go in and look at the programs and funding available.

Can you give me an idea of what the clean growth hub looks like in comparison to the Innovation.Canada.ca portal?

[Simon Kennedy]

The best way to describe it would be to say that the Innovation portal is primarily accessed digitally. As the honourable member noted, you go online, you indicate what kind of business you're in, which province or territory you're in, and so on. As you go through it, when you get to the end you have a kind of tailored list of the sorts of supports that might be available to you, given the sector you're in and the area of the country you're in.

The clean growth hub has a physical location. It's here in Ottawa, in the building that houses the majority of ISED's employees in the national capital region. Businesses can come through the front door physically and actually sit down with an adviser and learn about the kinds of programming and supports that are available across the country.

Obviously, we can offer those supports as well online and through telephone consultation, but we have brought staff together in a physical location to provide a kind of one-stop shop. In the same way that you might go into a bank and find a variety of services available, there is actually a location for this.

It's designed, obviously, as the name suggests, to focus very much on clean tech. We work very closely in particular, by way of example, with Natural Resources Canada, which obviously has a very strong interest in clean technology, and we have linkages into other players, such as Sustainable Development Technology Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The clean growth hub, then, is very much focused on clean tech, it's a kind of partnership among federal ministries, and we have a physical location where we meet with a lot of companies. The Innovation portal, I would say, is bigger in scale, because it's reaching a much larger number of companies, and it's primarily a digital experience.

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Is there any plan for taking the clean growth hub also into a platform, because for many smaller businesses that are focusing on clean tech, it would be very challenging to come to Ottawa, because of their small size?

[Simon Kennedy]

Generally speaking, clean technology is a priority across our programming. The online service is part of the broader service offering. We have innovation advisers all across the country and we have the ability in various regions across the country to direct businesses to talk to our advisers who are locally located. When people come through the door or reach us online saying, “I have this kind of company and I'm really interested in what you can do for us.” If it's a clean technology business, then we can direct them to the hub, but they don't need to be physically in—

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

I want ask one final question.

Are the clean growth hub and the National Research Council in any way, shape or form working closely together—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Mr. Jowhari, that is your time, unfortunately.

Mr. Lemire, you have six more minutes.

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

Hello. Thank you for your presentation and for making the effort to say a few words in French. We always appreciate that. I also want to point out that your priorities when it comes to initiatives targeting innovation, growth and sustainable development seem to be at the forefront now. To me, that's an important point.

I wouldn't be sitting here today if I hadn't made access to the Internet and cell networks a key component of my election campaign. Inadequate access to broadband Internet service is a major problem in my region, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, and I believe a lot of rural regions have the same problem.

You mentioned that a lot of places, especially in rural regions, are lagging in terms of connectivity. I would like to know what concrete measures are being taken to bring them up to speed. There seems to be money allocated, but it hasn't been spent yet.

[Simon Kennedy]

Thank you for your question.

Let me start by saying that Internet access for all Canadians, including those in rural regions, is one of our top priorities.

In the past, we implemented a number of programs to expand Internet access in rural regions. Connect to innovate is one example. Over $1.7 billion in new funding has now been allocated for broadband infrastructure. That investment includes the new universal broadband fund. We have already held cross-Canada consultations on how to proceed. I anticipate that, in the coming months, we will begin negotiations and spending to bring better Internet access to rural regions.

Also, it is probably important to note that the government has set a new access target. Five-bit download speed and one-bit upload speed is old news; we're looking at 50-bit and 10-bit by 2030. That is much faster. Our goal is to ensure this access for everyone. We now have the funding to start implementing that.

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

I'm glad the government isn't considering outdated technology just so it can say it's connecting people, but 2030 seems a little far away to me.

I'd like a better understanding of the mechanism. You're creating a program so companies can apply to set up the data and Canadians and Quebeckers can access it, but the latest programs seem to have been poorly adapted to regional realities, generally speaking. Let me give an example from our region. Businesses in my region have huge needs, but none of them have applied under this program.

What can your department do to make sure that, if the money's available, people can see that the money would benefit them and enable them to provide the service?

[Simon Kennedy]

Thank you for your question.

The final parameters have not yet been announced. It's not up to me, as a civil servant, to say exactly how things will work, but I do want to assure you that we are very sensitive to the fact that different communities and rural areas have very different needs. I should also note that a wide variety of groups can receive funding. There can be large cities and very small towns, indigenous groups, and so on. We want to be sensitive to the needs of various groups. We want to make sure there are no barriers for communities that aren't developed or don't have much capacity, for example. I know the minister is really sensitive to the importance of providing that access to diverse groups with varying capacities.

In terms of the timeline, we want things to move fairly quickly. Having said that, these are fairly large infrastructure projects, so the fact is that it's going to take some time, especially in very remote areas. For example, projects in the north or in more rural areas sometimes require a fairly large infrastructure investment. Also, the process takes a little longer in winter.

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

I understand those challenges. Thank you, by the way, for mentioning the needs of indigenous communities. I can share several examples from our own communities.

For example, the Winneway community wants a cell tower. This is a local initiative in which the federal government has not invested, but this new infrastructure will benefit the community in terms of connectivity and radio, among other things. These projects are under way.

I'm going to keep a very close eye on how this is rolled out, but I'm glad to see it's coming. I think we need to fast-track things.

I'm going to comment on the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada portals. I think it's a very good initiative. We also need to reduce red tape for entrepreneurs. I hear a lot about that from people.

Lastly, you want to tackle the cost of cell service, but how can a department like yours take meaningful action?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

You have 10 seconds.

[Simon Kennedy]

I'll have to let the minister give an answer about the government's exact measures, but I can say that we've invested $1 billion in connecting Canadians, and there are other funds as well. The CRTC—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

I'm sorry, but you're out of time.

The next round of questions is for six minutes.

Mr. Masse.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for being here today.

Just going from your testimony, since 2016 the government has invested more than $10 billion in science and research activities. How much of that is grants, and can you list where that money went?

[Simon Kennedy]

In general terms there have been a number of investments.