Evidence of meeting #137 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 telesat.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Liberal
François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
If I borrow at 2% and I lend at 10%, then I'm making money.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
You can't make money if you're not collecting the interest.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Mr. Perkins, please.
We can't have.... Just for the interpreters, it doesn't work if I have both of you speaking at the same time.
Mr. Perkins, I'll let you go with your question, and then, please, let the minister answer.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
When you relieve the interest for five years and when they don't have to pay it, how are you making money?
Liberal
François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Sir, I'm borrowing at a lower rate than I'm lending at. I'm getting warrant, and I'm getting a network coverage for telecom in this country to protect our national security. For anyone who's done math 101, if you borrow at the lower rate and you lend at a higher rate.... Don't just take it from me, sir—
Liberal
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
[Inaudible—Editor] for the first five years. That's borrowing at a government interest rate, and then it's costing you money.
In terms of warrants, how much are you going to spend on warrants—and for people watching, a warrant is the right to buy equity to bail out the company with a lack of cash flow—to bail out this company, which, after this loan, will have $5.1 billion of debt and will have a market capitalization of $900 million.
Liberal
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
My question is this: How are you saying that you're going to make money, when you're giving the interest away for nothing?
Liberal
François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
For Canadians watching, it's very simple; I borrow at 2%, and I lend at 10%. You don't need to take it from me—
Conservative
Liberal
François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Sir, do you want me to answer? If you want to make statements, I'm happy to—
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Mr. Perkins, please let the minister answer, and then that will be all of the time you have for your questions.
Mr. Perkins, please....
Minister, you have about 25 seconds to answer.
Liberal
François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Okay, for Canadians watching at home, if I borrow at a lower rate and if I lend at a higher rate, then I'm making—
Liberal
François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Mr. Chair, I don't know how you want.... I'm happy to listen to him. I like his statements.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Mr. Perkins, you know the rules of this committee. If you don't have the mic, you're not to be speaking over someone else, over a witness we've invited. You've asked your question. I'm giving the minister time to answer, so please—
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
I've asked the question three times, Mr. Chair, and he has not answered it. He's giving me an answer that's not related to the question.
The question is this: In the first five years of the loan, you are giving interest relief. No interest has to be paid in the first five years. How are you making money when you say there's no interest being paid?
That's part of the contract. I don't think you've read the contract, since it says that there are goods in kind, with no interest charged in the first five years of a $2-billion loan. That's the equivalent of $1 billion of interest relief to this company.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Now, Mr. Perkins, you've had more than your time. I'd appreciate it if you let the minister answer. I don't want any interruption.
Minister Champagne.
Liberal
François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Mr. Chair, I appreciate that.
Folks who watch at home, it's very simple. You borrow at a lower rate; you lend at a higher rate. You make the difference in between. In addition to that, we're getting warrants, which are basically subscription rights to make sure that Canadians benefit from the plus value that we've created. In addition to that, we are building a network of satellites to make sure that people have telecom coverage in the north. That's going to help our national security. It's going to help transmission of data when it comes to the northern passage for maritime operations and also for aviation.
We're going to be building.... Honestly, I think Mr. Perkins should celebrate, because we're going to have the largest factory in the world. The largest factory of its kind in the world is going to be in Canada, to produce satellites. We're going to produce two satellites per day in Canada.
You should be proud of what we're doing for Canadians, because this is Canada leading in the 21st century. Not only will we be protecting our national security, but we also will be smartly using our balance sheet to support Canadian workers, and in addition to that, we're going to be building two satellites per day. You should be celebrating, sir.
Liberal
Liberal
Iqwinder Gaheer Liberal Mississauga—Malton, ON
That's great. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for appearing before the committee. I apologize. Usually at this committee we let the witnesses answer the questions. I think it's a bit early, so we haven't had our morning coffee.