Evidence of meeting #9 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was businesses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
I can certainly respond to some of those. I may have some senior staff here in the virtual room who may be able to provide further details, but I've had some—
Go ahead. Sorry.
1 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
No, I appreciate that. Whether it's you or your staff on the call today, I would appreciate an update as to where we are with digital contact tracing, because we hear the health experts say, “Test, trace, test, trace”, but we have yet to see a clear plan for digital contact tracing.
1 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
What I can say is that we're working closely with colleagues in the health ministry, and certainly there have been discussions with provincial officials on the issue of the possibility of technology facilitating people managing social distancing. There has been a lot of discussion in the press and, frankly, a lot of discussion in various meetings about the issue of contact tracing. We probably need a whole other meeting, frankly, to go into the details—
1 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
That's probably fair, actually. That's a good point, and I think we are going to have a meeting on that. Would you be able to provide a backgrounder as to the steps the department has taken to date on digital contact tracing so that we are best prepared in advance of that meeting to ask questions? It might be helpful.
1:05 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
I'd be happy to come back to the committee with a couple of pieces of paper, if that would be of use.
What I will say, and I think it's really important to lay this out, is that the government has been very clear that privacy considerations are of foremost concern, and certainly, as you know, as an official, you follow the instructions of your government. Certainly, in the work we're doing with the PTs, provinces and territories, as part of the industry response we've had a lot of technology companies approach us in terms of looking at solutions that they have and that they think could be useful.
In our assessment of those and in all those conversations, certainly uppermost in our mind are the kinds of charter rights of Canadians on those sorts of issues. I thought I should underline that.
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
That's appreciated.
My last question is in relation to testing.
There was an announcement today of $350 million for testing and modelling. When I see reports out of the United States that say it's 20 million tests per day to restore the economy, or three million tests per week or various estimates, and I translate those to the Canadian context, I'm looking at somewhere between 50,000 to two million a day, depending upon the estimates.
We're at 20,000 tests a day right now. What is our goal here for tests per day as we look to restore or reopen the economy down the road?
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
1:05 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
On the specific question of what the right number is, it's really the health ministry's issue, but we are working very closely with them to try to ramp up the domestic ability to manufacture the tests and the various kinds of equipment needed for those tests so that we're able to actually hit that number. The actual specifics of what the number is would be better directed to Health Canada.
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
Thank you so much.
Unfortunately, that's all the time we have today, as we have another committee—
1:05 p.m.
Conservative
1:05 p.m.
An hon. member
Madam Chair—
1:05 p.m.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
We still have two questions of two and a half minutes to go here, I believe.
The NDP and our Bloc members would appreciate having their times honoured.
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
MP Patzer, I understand the hope was that we would be able to complete that third round. However, I'm being advised by the clerk that a sanitation crew needs to come into the room to sanitize the room prior to the next meeting, so unfortunately we do not have the time.
1:05 p.m.
Conservative
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
I'm still speaking.
I'm dealing with this first point of order, Madam Rempel Garner, if you would please let me finish.
I've asked the clerk to make sure that we are able to have that last two and a half minutes for both rounds. I would like to be able to do so, but unfortunately we have a cleaning crew that needs to come in.
1:05 p.m.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Madam Chair, we can take five minutes and the cleaning crew can wait for five minutes while my colleagues get their question rounds finished, as previously agreed to. It's a little ridiculous. The clerk can tell the cleaning crew that they can wait for five minutes.
Thank you.
1:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
Let me check with the room to see if we can have them hold back. One moment, please.
We are going to go with the last five minutes.
Mr. Savard-Tremblay, you have two and a half minutes.
1:05 p.m.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Thank you.
We hear a great deal about the credit programs available to businesses through Export Development Canada or the Business Development Bank of Canada.
I know that we're in a time of crisis and that the priority is to get out of the crisis. However, has any thought been given to the period after the crisis?
Each measure taken or not taken will have an impact, and the post-crisis process could be long and arduous.
With respect to these credit programs, has the bleak possibility of a business debt crisis been considered? If so, have solutions been explored?
1:05 p.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
I'll let Mr. Thompson answer that question.
1:05 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
Thank you.
A number of measures have already been implemented. We're working closely with many stakeholders to monitor the implementation and impact of these measures and to see whether any gaps and needs remain. The time frame for these measures may be reconsidered. There are other measures, such as the recently launched Canada emergency wage subsidy. As you said, there are loans from Crown corporations. However, at this time, the government has been focusing on this area.
1:10 p.m.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
We know that, initially, there was some talk of turning these business loans into direct assistance. However, the door was closed at that time. Is this position still the same as we speak?
1:10 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Industry
I'd say that 25% of the loan can already be written off, which is the technical term.
1:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
Unfortunately, that's all the time we have.
Our last round is two and a half minutes. Mr. Johns.
1:10 p.m.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
Thank you.
We're asking small businesses to close their doors and borrow money so they can pay their landlords and their landlords can pay their mortgages and pay the banks. What are we asking the banks to do?