Industry Committee on Feb. 27th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Our next round, of five minutes of questions, goes first to Madam Rempel Garner.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Kennedy, would you be able to table a list, including the total value of loans, grants or contributions made by your department, any of the development agencies or granting councils, to any corporation with net earnings of $10 million or greater?

[Simon Kennedy]

Madam Chair, maybe I could take that request away. I believe this information is largely available, so I'm happy to follow up.

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

So that's a yes?

[Simon Kennedy]

I'm happy to follow up. I'm not aware of any restriction, but I'm happy to take the request back.

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

Thank you.

Can you please also table the rubric your department uses to calculate the number of jobs created by grants and contributions, matching the list of grants that I just asked for?

[Simon Kennedy]

I will come back to the honourable member with that.

As I noted earlier, typically, through programs such as the strategic innovation fund, there are binding undertakings around the kinds of investments that will be made. That is generally where the numbers come from. To the extent we can illuminate them, I'd be happy to do so.

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

I'm just asking you to table the rubric on how you're evaluating the outcomes of some of those specific initiatives.

With regard to the supercluster initiative, can you table with the committee the rubric you use to measure the number of jobs created by investments in that fund?

[Simon Kennedy]

I can certainly come back to the committee with an explanation of where that number comes from. I could illuminate it now if you wish, but I'm happy to come back with a written explanation.

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

Basically what I'm looking to find out from that information is this. I know the government's stated objective was 50,000 jobs created. The number we've seen to date is zero. I would like to see the rubric that you are using to evaluate whether or not a job has been directly created by the outcome of that particular funding.

Thank you.

Similarly, can you also table the rubric your department is using to evaluate whether or not intellectual property that has been generated as a result of the supercluster initiative funding is retained in Canada?

[Simon Kennedy]

I can come back, Madam Chair, with an explanation of how we approach IP in our programming, including superclusters. It is a priority for us.

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

Again, that's not what I'm looking for. It's specific to the initiative. One of the stated objectives for this tremendous amount of public funds is that intellectual property would be commercialized and retained in Canada. I would like to see exactly how your department is measuring that particular aspect of the program.

[Simon Kennedy]

IP is certainly, Madam Chair, a priority for the superclusters initiative.

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

I'm just asking you, if you can, to table that rubric.

[Simon Kennedy]

I can come back with a response on that question, absolutely.

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

Thank you.

Can you also table with the committee the number of jobs that have been created and how you're defining that number as an outcome of the $28-plus million allocated for the sustainable development technology fund?

[Simon Kennedy]

Madam Chair, I will talk to SDTC, and we can come back on that question.

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

Can you table with committee the number of jobs that have been created by the $26 million allocated for the digital research infrastructure strategy?

[Simon Kennedy]

I can come back to the honourable member with that question as well, though I would note that the digital research infrastructure strategy is not a job creation program but a research program designed to expand supercomputing capacity for the research sector. It's not really about job creation.

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

That's good to know.

Can you also table with the committee the number of jobs created by the strategic innovation fund in the last five years and the rubric used to measure the number of jobs created?

[Simon Kennedy]

I can give an answer now on the strategic innovation fund. It's just over 67,000 jobs that have been created or maintained by the program. Again, just to reiterate, these are numbers that are coming from binding agreements that are negotiated with project proponents. There's a total of 68 projects. Every one of them has a binding agreement, and those numbers are derived from those agreements.

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

Last year, I'll note that the department said that 56,000 jobs were created by this particular fund, yet an access to information request showed that the program actually created 6,600 jobs. You'll forgive me, then, if I don't take that number at face value. I would like you to table with the committee the rubric you use to assess whether a job has been created under that—how you determined that 67,000 number.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

You have 15 seconds.

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

That's all.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much.

Our next five-minute round of questions goes to Madame Lambropoulos.