Evidence of meeting #11 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was know.
A video is available from Parliament.
2:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Thank you, Mr. Lemire; thank you, Minister.
Mr. Masse will now have the floor.
Mr. Masse, you have two and a half minutes.
2:10 p.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to return to Mr. Champagne and Madam Ng. It's not about auto, so it's okay. We're done with that. I'm just as passionate about supply chains.
You may not have a full answer on this right now, but I want to raise an issue and see what your response is in terms of where we can go. This is with regard to freight containers and inflationary prices. Before COVID, for a lot of retail and supply chains, getting freight containers from overseas accounted for around 25% of the cost. That's gone up to 198%. Also, I'm being told that Canadians are being charged around 30% more than their American counterparts are for steamship coverage.
Can you provide some insight as to what the government is doing? Has it been raised as an issue? How do we support especially medium-sized and small businesses that are being pounded by this increased cost, which is going to be inflationary to consumers and which will also disrupt supply chains?
2:10 p.m.
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Masse, for that. It is an issue that we are very seized with, because the cost of doing business, in particular for our small and medium-sized businesses which have less flexibility to deal with this, is something we are very much working on.
You may know that Minister Alghabra convened a supply chain round table which Minister Champagne and I were both on, working specifically with industry and across the system that will actually deal with transportation, industry, SMEs and labour. If you're talking to workers' representatives or industries, feel free to share those ideas with us, because we are very much working on solutions as we speak.
2:15 p.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Has there been any work done with the steamship industry itself? I've heard some raise claims of collusion and not price matching but that type of issue. Maybe collusion might be too harsh, but lack of competition, aging fleets and preferential treatment for other countries are some things I'm hearing right now. I just want to hear about that.
2:15 p.m.
Liberal
François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
I appreciate that, Mr. Masse. I would say that you may have seen that I directed the Competition Bureau to be on the watch with respect to the price of gas at the pump recently. We know it's largely influenced by global markets, but we want to make sure we give it extra attention at this stage.
If you have any insight on that or any instance that you see, I'm quite happy to seize the Competition Bureau with it and make sure we put an extra watch on this thing. I agree with you that we need to use every tool in the tool box to make sure life is affordable for Canadians, and I intend to use all the tools we have in the tool box.
2:15 p.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
There was actually a price-monitoring commission in place that was defunded under the Harper government. It had been put in place by Paul Martin, and I have two motions on that. I'll forward that information. Thank you very much for your time.
2:15 p.m.
Liberal
2:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Thank you, MP Masse.
Mr. Deltell, you now have the floor for five minutes.
2:15 p.m.
Conservative
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank all my colleagues, whom I am happy to see here.
I want to say hello to you, Mr. Chair, you being my neighbour in the Quebec City region. I paid close attention to the recommendations you gave and I will pay particular attention to the red square you may well show me when the time comes.
I would also like to thank all members of the committee for their collaboration.
And last, I want to say that I am humbled to take the place of the hon. Ed Fast, the member for Abbotsford. Of course, I don't want to take anything away from anyone, but I would nonetheless like to mention something.
Everybody will recognize that the honourable Ed Fast has been a really great, if not the greatest, international trade minister in Canadian history. Under his leadership, Canada signed 43 free trade agreements with 43 other countries. What a great achievement, and with a lot of modesty I'm following in his footsteps here in this committee.
I would first like to address a question with my hon. colleague from Shawinigan, whom I respect and admire. I listened very carefully to everything he said, particularly regarding investments in enterprises. We are both citizens of and members for Quebec, and, like him, I applaud the massive, long-term investment that will provide exceptional benefits for our province and our country over the next century.
However, when we look at the overall picture for foreign investment in Quebec and Canada, we unfortunately see that we are not at the top of the list. Canada is 30th out of 32 countries.
What does the minister intend to do to get us out of the cellar where we currently reside? We are 30th out of 32 countries, and that is not the Canada I love. I am sure the minister agrees with me.
I know he will rhyme off a litany of all the investments that have been made over the last six months, but our country, which was in a very good position, is now bringing up the rear.
What does the minister intend to do to increase foreign investment in Canada?
2:15 p.m.
Liberal
François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Mr. Chair, I would first like to thank and say hello to my colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent, for whom I have great admiration, as I say publicly all the time.
Mr. Deltell, I have great admiration for you, because you make your contribution as a parliamentarian. I know the figures you are thinking of, my friend, but I will tell you that the facts on the ground are different. I have never got as many calls from companies that want to invest in Canada.
I'm going to give you a few examples, and not read off a litany of them.
Dow Chemical has decided to build in Alberta. This is the first carbon neutral polyethylene plant in the world. A blue hydrogen production plant is also being built in Edmonton.
We are now seeing a battery industry in which things are going to be speeding up, my friend. You are seeing only the tip of the iceberg of all these foreign investments that are coming, and that will result in the creation of an industry that didn't even exist in Canada. We are building something that never existed before, but that will generate profits for the next 20 or 30 years. The same thing is happening in the aerospace industry.
I am aware of the figures. I can tell my colleague that in collaboration with the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, I am doing everything possible to be present on all platforms, because I think that stability, predictability and the rule of law are very important today.
You will see that the 2021 numbers on attraction are going to be pretty impressive. You know, as do I, that the proximity of resources, green energy, renewable energy and workforce talent that we have, from one end of the country to the other, contribute enormously to attracting companies to Canada.
We need only think of BASF. I would point out to my colleague that the people in that company had their choice of going where they wanted. I went to meet the president of the company in Germany a year ago, and they decided to come to Quebec because of what we are able to offer.
2:20 p.m.
Conservative
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As predicted, the minister has read off a litany of good investments, which we do recognize. However, he is not the only one in the world whose phone is ringing. The phones are ringing as much, if not more, in other countries. So much the better, because there will never be too much investment.
I say bravo for today's investments! I am also very much looking forward to going to see Xanadu in Toronto. However, the reality is that the phone is ringing elsewhere also, and other countries are doing better than we are. That is not the Canada I want to see. I want to see Canada at the head of the pack, not bringing up the rear.
Just now, my colleague spoke about the possibility of an agency, or a structure, being created. Could the minister be more specific about this? Is what he wants to create really an agency or structure for the future?
2:20 p.m.
Liberal
François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
My colleague pointed out that there was $75 billion in foreign investment in 2021, and that this is the highest investment rate in the last 15 years. So I think we are heading in the right direction.
To answer my colleague's question, I will say that we are still looking at what the best approach would be. What structure are we going to choose? It will depend.
We created a committee yesterday. You know that what is important to me is immediate action and long-term vision, and we want to be sure we benefit from the current situation. Industries are undergoing major transformations. The battery industry is one. The aerospace industry is another.
This structure, which will have an approach that will take us farther, is what I want to put in place as fast as possible. We are looking at which model will make it possible to get there.
2:20 p.m.
Conservative
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Yes, Mr. Chair, I know that the minister likes to be hands-on...
2:20 p.m.
Conservative
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Ah yes, there it is. I knew that the member for Louis-Hébert's red squares would get me.
2:20 p.m.
Some hon. members
Ha, ha!
2:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
I will give you one. I have cards left from 2012, if you want some.
Mr. Gaheer now has the floor for five minutes.
March 4th, 2022 / 2:20 p.m.
Liberal
Iqwinder Gaheer Liberal Mississauga—Malton, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the ministers for appearing before the committee.
My first question is for Minister Ng.
Minister, part of your mandate is to negotiate, as part of a new Indo-Pacific strategy, new bilateral and regional trade agreements, expand foreign investment promotion and protection agreements and build stronger economic linkages.
Could you speak a bit about which countries specifically are your focus in the Indo-Pacific region, and what work has been done on those files?
2:20 p.m.
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
Thank you so much, my wonderful colleague. This is the first time that we're at committee together. It's terrific to be here with you.
As Canada's trade minister, I often am able to tell Canadian businesses that they have unprecedented access to the world's economy. We have access to over 65% of the economy. We're the only G7 country with a free trade agreement with every other G7 country. We have important economic zones, whether it be here or in North America, where we successfully renegotiated the new NAFTA. We successfully concluded the agreement in Europe through CETA. We successfully negotiated a comprehensive and progressive high-standards agreement in the Asia-Pacific through the CPTPP. I've just announced that we're going to enter into negotiations with Indonesia—with hundreds of millions of new customers through that market—as well as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN.
These are very ambitious agreements that we want to absolutely make, but here's the thing: Agreements are only that. Agreements are only good if you can actually help your businesses grow and get into those markets.
Let me give you an example of a terrific female-led organization that recently, in 2019, expanded its warehouse by 5,000 feet. In 2020, she has now purchased a new warehouse. By the way, she has received support through the women's entrepreneurship ecosystem fund, and today she's exporting into countries such as Japan, Vietnam and Australia and experiencing growth.
When we talk about growing our businesses into those markets, it is absolutely being ambitious about negotiating free trade agreements, but it is also equally being ambitious to make sure that we are helping our businesses seize those opportunities and not leaving people behind, such as indigenous businesses, Black-owned businesses and women entrepreneurs. I can tell you countless stories like the one I just shared right now about successful businesses exporting.
2:25 p.m.
Liberal
Iqwinder Gaheer Liberal Mississauga—Malton, ON
Thank you.
We've also spoken personally about the relationship with India. Specifically, it is a big economic player. It has a massive population. There are great people-to-people ties between the two nations of Canada and India. What work is being done to pursue a greater economic portfolio with India?
2:25 p.m.
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
That is a terrific question.
I was just briefed a little earlier so that I can be ready to take a number of companies to India through a virtual trade mission that's starting on Monday. This is the fifth virtual trade mission organized by the Asia Pacific Foundation, which is a national ecosystem partner of ours. Their job is to help our businesses scale and grow into the international marketplace. I'm really pleased that we're going into India on a virtual trade mission, starting on Monday.
2:25 p.m.
Liberal
Iqwinder Gaheer Liberal Mississauga—Malton, ON
That's great. Thank you so much.
My next question is for Minister Champagne. This relates slightly to what Nate was talking about earlier.
The Canadian economy has been characterized as being risk averse, and many analysts believe that we need many high-risk, high-reward investments, the sorts of moon shot investments necessary for IP and for attracting international capital and talent and spurring economic growth. To develop this ecosystem, your mandate letter mentions CARPA.
Could you expand on the timeline we're looking at to establish CARPA and what this would mean for Canadian innovation?
2:25 p.m.
Liberal
François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Thank you very much, and thanks for your work. That's a great question.
Listen, I would say as soon as possible. You know me; I have a reputation to be a bit impatient, so as soon as possible.
We're working now to put in a small group to advise on the best possible way to structure it. Obviously, we know about the DARPA model, how it is structured, the independence and the fact that it is very agile and looking very much forward. This is really about a moon shot type of approach, and this was really something that was missing in the ecosystem.
We're working very diligently. As you know, Canada has a smaller economy, so when you create something new like that, you need to make sure it ties in well with the superclusters we have and with the research ecosystem, the granting agencies and the National Research Council. I think we're investing the time now to go faster into the implementation, and I think this is going to be welcome.
Certainly, this was really a piece that was missing. If I look at where Canada is today on AI and quantum, I wonder what is the next technology. We're talking about 5G, so is it 6G, 7G or whatever may come next?
We really need to be talking about and thinking beyond the immediate horizon when you look at the geopolitics of the world. We didn't have the chance to say that all of us are thinking about the bravery and courage of the Ukrainians who are fighting for democracy and fighting for dignity and decency. I think supply chains around the world are being rethought. There are some economic blocs being formed, and certainly that will be an agent that I think will serve humanity and democracy well. We will queue up with trusted partners to make sure that we can succeed together. Democracies will succeed in this new economy of the 21st century.