Industry Committee on Oct. 29th, 2020

[Lisa Campbell]

Thank you for your question.

We do indeed believe that satellite data hold tremendous potential. We work with Environment and Climate Change Canada as well as Natural Resources Canada, and we are looking for other champions. Generally speaking, everyone understands the huge potential—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Sorry, Ms. Campbell, but Mr. Lemire's time is up. You may have a chance to finish what you were going to say later.

[Lisa Campbell]

All right.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Our next round of questions goes to MP Bachrach, who is replacing Mr. Masse.

You have the floor for six minutes.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

As you mentioned, I'm filling in for my colleague Mr. Masse. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch the presentations, but I'd like to offer my congratulations to both of the appointees.

Certainly, in the region I represent in northwest B.C., tourism is a very important part of our economy. It's a spectacularly beautiful part of the world, which I know Ms. Walden is familiar with.

My question has to do with reconciliation. The COVID-19 crisis has, in many ways, brought together indigenous and non-indigenous communities to safeguard our citizens. In other ways, it has created tensions. We have seen indigenous nations in northwest B.C. announce the closures of their territories to protect their communities, and at times doing that has had impacts on the tourism industry.

I wonder if Ms. Walden could speak to the role of federal leadership, which has been quite silent in these situations, in working through these challenges and helping arrive at scenarios that are beneficial and safe for everyone.

[Marsha Walden]

This has certainly been a topic of great interest as we've seen communities reopen and welcome visitors. Certainly, the concerns of indigenous communities across our nation have been ones that everyone is trying to be extremely sensitive to, and those concerns extend as well to all communities, I would say. I think that it is not unique to our indigenous communities to want to protect their citizens and to be very concerned about their elders or their elderly. These are concerns that all Canadians share.

I will say that my experience in British Columbia to date has been that there have been very effective dialogues going on between local tourism stakeholders and local first nations communities to ensure that the health and safety needs are the first and foremost considerations. With respect to reopening community borders and welcoming visitors, negotiating time frames and conditions that work for everyone has been, in most cases, extremely amicable. While those have ebbed and flowed a little as health conditions have changed in various parts of our country, I think that, as an industry, we've been very successful in making sure that the health and safety needs of communities are first and foremost.

I will say that along the way, because we have a strong partnership at the federal level with the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada and at the provincial level with other associations, they too have been extremely helpful in guiding those discussions and ensuring that the needs of everyone have been met.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

With that, we'll go to the second round.

I know we were a little delayed because of technical difficulties, but I want to make sure people have a chance to ask their questions. We'll start with MP Cumming.

You have the floor for five minutes.

[James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Thank you.

Congratulations to both of you on your appointments. I will start with Ms. Walden. Can you follow up or confirm whether you have requested additional funding given what's happened in this industry, and whether you support TIAC's request for an incentive program for the industry?

[Marsha Walden]

We're in constant discussion with our ministry about the needs of our industry. Currently, we're in the throes of developing our corporate plans and budget needs for the future. Since those are still within government for consideration, there's not much that I'm able to share at this time.

[James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I want to shift to Ms. Campbell.

Once again, congratulations on your appointment. I read through the departmental plan. This department is under new leadership, your leadership. It struck me that there's lots of discussion of dollars and people in the departmental plan, but not a lot related to direct outcomes as a result of the spending within the department, other than potentially the value of exports in the Canadian sector. Will there be a drive, under your leadership, to try to create more outcome-based analysis for the departmental plan?

[Lisa Campbell]

Indeed, we know that we need to communicate more with Canadians on why to invest in space, particularly now when, quite frankly, the world is seized by the pandemic. We know that, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, it advances science in all its aspects. It also has direct, immediate benefits here at home.

In health care, for example, exploring space and sending astronauts to the International Space Station—and soon the moon—help advance medical science. Space is hard on our bodies, and it actually accelerates the aging process. By studying how astronauts adapt, we've learned a lot about zero gravity, cardiovascular issues, aging, osteoporosis and the psychological effects of isolation and living in confinement. Many benefits have flowed to Canada, particularly given our vast territory and people living in the north in more remote environments. We've developed technologies that are used in medical centres right now, for instance, robotic arms for neurosurgery, breast cancer detection and astronomy cameras that can detect cancer cells. We have a deep-space health advisory council that is helping push how we can deliver health care services in isolated communities; that can be improved upon through lessons we've learned in space.

We learn a lot about emergency management security. Satellites, as I mentioned earlier, are used to detect and manage critical events, including events such as floods, forest fires and surveillance of oil spills from vessels. We own and operate satellites that measure the impact of climate change, monitor environment and help us manage food distribution and crop management. The systems that would be essential to sustain human presence in space for food production can also be used in our remote communities.

[James Cumming, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Thank you.

We have limited time, so I want to squeeze in some more questions.

I'll turn the floor to Mr. Nater.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Campbell, for being with us.

What I'm noticing, unfortunately, seems to be a bit of a disconnect between the 2019 space strategy and the departmental plan for the Canadian Space Agency. Certainly, one of the objectives of the space strategy is connecting Canadians everywhere. For rural communities, rural broadband is a major issue, but there's no mention of that in the departmental plan. I'm curious about that.

As well, you mentioned nutritious food and access to it very briefly. Certainly, groups at the University of Guelph are doing exceptional work on harsh and different environments, yet that's not mentioned in the departmental plan. Often, if we're not measuring something, if we're not making something a priority, we're not going to be achieving the results. I'm curious as to why things like connecting Canadians through rural broadband or growing nutritious foods—which is something that Canadians have great expertise in—are not included in the departmental plan.

[Lisa Campbell]

Our core mandate and mission is the peaceful use and exploration of space. With regard to connectivity, it really is ISED that is the lead on that. We are promoting, as I said earlier, greater use, collection and generation of space data because we know that—not just for Canada, but globally—that it really is something that increasingly is a core part of so many services: climate management, agriculture and food production, as I mentioned. We are hearing from industry. We just did an industry day on space-based earth observation, and we heard from the space sector that they want more access to data, both in Canada to help them innovate and globally so that they can sell their wares.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to MP Erskine-Smith.

You have the floor for five minutes. I'll quickly remind you that when you see the flags, you have 30 seconds, and then time's up.

Thank you.

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

Thanks, Madam Chair.

First, congratulations to both of you on your appointments.

I certainly agree with my Conservative colleague that we need rapid testing for our economies to reopen more safely, but on August 10, Charlotte Bell, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, came before us and said that because of the pandemic the tourism sector was first hit, and hardest hit and will be the last to recover. The hand-waving to suggest that somehow it is the fault of government rather than the pandemic is frustrating to me at times, especially when you see the first recommendation on August 10 that Ms. Bell gave to us. It was to extend the wage subsidy until next summer, which is exactly what this government has done. Another recommendation was, “For now, we need incentives for Canadians to visit their own country”.

Ms. Walden, when you look to your own approach at Destination Canada to encourage Canadians to travel domestically, how can we support those activities?

[Marsha Walden]

Certainly, as Canadians, we all have the opportunity to demonstrate by our own behaviours that travel can be done safely. In each part of the country, the health advisories are a little bit different, so we take the opportunities where we can. We very much have an opportunity domestically to rekindle and restart our tourism economy. When one considers that almost $40 billion a year is spent by Canadians in what we call outbound travel—they're taking their money and spending it in other parts of the world—that alone could be a significant impetus to regaining lost ground here at home.

We do anticipate that domestic travel is our nearest and best opportunity, so we're working with all of our key partners at the provincial, territorial and city levels to make sure that we're stimulating travel within Canada first.

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

Thanks, Ms. Walden. I apologize, but I'm short on time and will be sharing it with Ms. Lambropoulos after I ask one question of Ms. Campbell.

I hear my Conservative colleagues ask about commercial opportunities, and what about non-space-related benefits, whether it's in broadband or more?

With regard to the Artemis Accords, you did note in your comments commercial space activities. There's a press release from October 29. I was unclear about this, but the press release, in relation to the $3.3 million in funding from the Canadian Space Agency, said, “These innovative technologies will enable new commercial opportunities and position the Canadian space industry for the future economy created by Moon exploration.”

I wonder if you could explain to us your priorities as they relate to commercial activities, versus the core mandate of space exploration and the lunar mission specifically for 2024.

[Lisa Campbell]

Thank you very much. That's a great question.

I think you might be referring to the lunar exploration accelerator program. It's $150 million over five years, which is happening in conjunction with our involvement on the lunar gateway. It really is the way that we operate. Because so much of what we do is at the cutting edge of science and technology, we know we need to support firms.

Much of the space sector is small and medium-sized enterprises—very innovative—and they need our help at the beginning so they can become that robust supply chain that will then beckon Canadian primes and primes from around the world. If you look at our contract for Canadarm with MDA, part of it is the industrial technological benefits policy being applied to ensure that much of the work happens here in Canada. With RADARSAT constellation mission, 125 companies from seven provinces are part of that.

We really try to make sure that we are investing constantly in both the research and the cutting-edge science, so that it's ready when these opportunities come along.

Thank you.

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

I'm just going to ask a quick question.

First of all, congratulations to both Ms. Campbell and Ms. Walden on your appointments.

I also went through the “State of the Industry” report and saw that obviously, based on evolving treatments and on vaccines, things will improve. I believe that the only way the economy will completely restore itself is once we have a vaccine and enough people have taken the vaccine. I think that's the consensus across the board.

I am wondering, Ms. Walden, if you would work with industries, or at least encourage industries, to try to get people to take the vaccine or to make it mandatory in certain sectors. The people I've spoken to all know that we need to get the vaccine and that most people need to take it, but most of them wouldn't do it themselves.

I'm wondering what your take is on this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Be very quick.

[Marsha Walden]

I think the most critical thing is that we restore confidence in travel. People need to feel safe in order to continue to travel, to get on airplanes, to stay in hotels. That would be our primary concern.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much.

Unfortunately, that's all your time.

Mr. Lemire, you have two and a half minutes. Go ahead.