Industry Committee on Feb. 27th, 2020

[Douglas McConnachie]

We'll look at that in a reasonable period of time, within the next week or two.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Thank you.

I'll cede the rest of my time to Ms. Rempel Garner.

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

Thank you.

Actually, Mr. Patzer, are you ready?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

You have 30 seconds.

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

Perfect. That's all I need.

I have a quick question for you, Minister.

Do you know who owns Verdient Foods in Vanscoy?

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

I know some of the investors in Verdient Foods.

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

Are you aware that it is James Cameron, the film producer?

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

I'm aware that James Cameron and his wife invested in this.

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

Yes, my point being, do you think he needed a $2 million handout? Most people were quite—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Mr. Patzer, unfortunately that's your time.

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

I appreciate it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

The next five-minute round goes to Madam Lambropoulos.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you, Minister, for being here with us today.

I was very happy to see that you took on this new portfolio because I know that you're a very fair minister. Regardless of where you're from, you take into account all regions across the country, and you do a good job of that. I speak from my experience with you in other ministries in the past.

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

Thank you.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

We know that Canada's economy is doing well overall, but it's not felt in all regions across the country. Obviously there are challenges going forward, and we are trying to transition to a cleaner economy. I was wondering if we have any strategies in place right now or going forward to help provinces across the country that may need more assistance with regard to transitioning or with regard job creation in these areas.

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

I believe that this is exactly the vision we have and why the regional development agencies were created. When you look at the first one that was created, which was ACOA, in Atlantic Canada, it was done by Pierre Elliott Trudeau, at a time when a lot of people were heading to big cities, and there were economic challenges.

The idea for the regional development agencies—for ACOA at the time—was to make sure that there would be more fairness in the system and that, through government work, we could create these opportunities. That was acknowledged later on by the Conservative Party, in 1987, when Brian Mulroney decided to create Western Economic Diversification to help people in western Canada gain access to good jobs.

Also, it was later reaffirmed by the Harper government, following the economic downturns in 2009, with the creation of FedDev, the latest regional development agency, which is for the southern part of Ontario; FedNor being for the northern part of Ontario.

Now, concretely, what do we do? As I said to Sébastien Lemire, we are here to make sure to spread the innovation and innovation investments through different means across all our regions, not only in our big city centres. We're also here to support incubators and, sometimes, to link universities and post-secondary institutions with the business sector, in order for new research to be commercialized. I also think that, at the end of the day, we are here to provide more trust, more confidence and more hope through our work in our different regions.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you very much. We know that in some of the regions one of the main sources for job creation is the tourist industry. I know you have a major focus on this in your portfolio as well.

Given that the Old Port of Montreal attracts many tourists and that several festivals on the Island of Montreal attract tourists every year, how will your new strategy help the tourism industry?

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

For far too long, the federal government snubbed the tourism sector. Cities and regions were very aware of the impact of the tourism sector. There are more than one million jobs linked to tourism in Canada. However, Ottawa remained in its bubble. I believe that we did not pay enough attention to the tourism sector.

Therefore, I have worked hard on this issue over the past year. We proposed a new tourism strategy, one that recognizes that we must work on two issues in particular. First, most tourists visit in the summer. We should be able to extend the tourism season so that tourists come here in the fall, spring and winter. Also, tourists tend to visit our major cities. We should be able to attract them to all parts of Canada.

Therefore, we created a new $65-million fund and a new strategy. When I have more time, I will be able to provide a more detailed answer to your question.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much, Minister.

The next five-minute-round question goes to Mr. Patzer.

You have the floor.

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

Thank you.

I'm just going back to what I asked about earlier. Obviously, in Saskatchewan we appreciate any investment that we get from the federal government into our province. I think most people were excited to have James Cameron, of all people, investing in Saskatchewan. That's a pretty exciting proposition. James Cameron's net worth happens to be $700 million, so people in Saskatchewan, farmers who are struggling to get by, or small towns that are struggling to remain economically viable, see a $2-million federal handout to a person who's worth $700 million.... The feeling amongst people was, what do we have to do? This guy has all the money in the world. What does he need a $2-million federal government handout for?

I'll offer a bit of an olive branch here. It would be great to have ministers coming out to places outside Saskatoon, further than Vanscoy. Vanscoy is just a stone's throw away from Saskatoon. If you want to come down to the southwest corner of Saskatchewan and see what small-town life feels like, and meet with people like that, I would be more than happy to take around anybody around this table, really, so they can see and feel the hurt and the pain that our producers are feeling right now. Whether it be blockades, the CN strike, or all of that, it's having massive impacts.

I'm just using the tourism angle here. I'll ask you a question. The name of my riding says it all, Cypress Hills—Grasslands. The Grasslands National Park is a huge, hidden treasure that we have. We're talking a lot about investing in broadband and rural network access here.

I'm wondering if you would be willing to elaborate more on what you're trying to do to get areas like Grasslands National Park, or even Cypress Hills, to be more connected going forward.

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

Well, dear colleague, my goal is not only to go to Vanscoy or only to Saskatoon. It would be a pleasure to go to your neck of the woods because my job is to represent everybody across the country, particularly in places where, sometimes, people are more preoccupied and anxious. I think, also, that when we support different industries and different businesses, it's always through repayable loans—well, many times. We're partners, but we expect to be repaid at the same time, and that's why our colleagues and my officials are always following up on that.

I think the investment in Verdient Foods was good news for Saskatchewan. I met Ashleigh, from Vanscoy, who studied at the University of Saskatchewan. Because of the investment, she was able to have a job in her hometown. There's a lot of potential there. We're really investing in the protein sector now, and I don't understand why we need to send our resources elsewhere to be transformed. I think there's a lot of potential to do the transformation in Saskatchewan itself.

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

Yes, for sure. We are looking at ways that we can continue to further what we're trying to accomplish, especially down in the southwest corner.

Our family grew pulses growing up. An option like Verdient didn't exist then. To even try to get stuff up there, there's a lot of cost associated with that. Seeing government handouts to people who quite frankly don't need them was the frustrating part.

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

Do you want me to answer your tourism question?

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

Yes, just briefly because my colleague Tracy has a quick question as well. I would like her to have a chance.