Evidence of meeting #151 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 bank.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
—be transferred to small businesses, and they will be.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Thank you.
You also said that we're operating in an environment of more mercantilism. Do you have plans to permanently reduce tax burdens on businesses to make them more competitive vis-à-vis the U.S. mercantilist environment, such as eliminating the carbon tax?
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
I think the marginal effective tax rate is something that is very important to look at. Our government monitors that very closely. We will continue to do so. I believe we have to be very careful and thoughtful about fighting for capital for Canada and Canadians.
Conservative
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
Canada's metre continues to be better than the metre in the United States. That is something we need to watch. We need to maintain that competitive advantage.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Would you suggest that the carbon tax helps attract investment to Canada vis-à-vis the American market, since that doesn't have a carbon tax?
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
I would suggest two things. First of all, the small business carbon rebate is delivering $2.5 billion to small businesses even as we speak. That is a significant boost coming at the right time.
Second of all, as François-Philippe discussed—
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
—there are many businesses investing in Canada based on our price on pollution.
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
The EV industry is one example. Dow, just north of where you are right now in Calgary, is another example.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Thank you, Minister.
It's been reported that the deficit is going to be over $40 billion.
Is the deficit going to be over $40 billion?
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
I am glad that, notwithstanding the Conservative filibuster, I will have an opportunity to present the fall economic statement on Monday, and we will be presenting full transparency on the public finances.
Conservative
Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB
Has the Prime Minister indicated to you that you'll be shuffled out of your role if the deficit is over $40 billion?
Liberal
Conservative
Liberal
December 9th, 2024 / 4:40 p.m.
Liberal
Tony Van Bynen Liberal Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Thank you very much.
It's double bonus day. It's not often we get two ministers at our committee. It's certainly a pleasure to have you both here.
AI has been one of my favourite topics. We know that the genie is out of the bottle. Love it or hate it, there's no denying that artificial intelligence is here to stay, and its transformative potential is not only in our economy but in the world economy as a whole.
What are some of the steps that you've taken to promote a fertile ecosystem for us to be a global leader in AI?
Liberal
Chrystia Freeland Liberal University—Rosedale, ON
That's such a great question that François-Philippe and I both want to answer.
I just want to take this opportunity to say how glad we both were that I was able to be in Toronto on Friday with a Canadian AI champion, Cohere, announcing a government investment in a Canadian data centre. This is really good news. This is about exactly what we've been talking about: crowding in private capital to Canada and securing Canada's very strong position in one of the most important new technologies in the world.
We have the AI researchers. Toronto's Geoff Hinton won a Nobel Prize in physics for his work. Aidan Gomez, the CEO of Cohere, worked with him. What we talked about on Friday with this group of great young Canadian AI researchers and people who've been attracted to Canada to work on this project is how now is the moment for Canada to capitalize on our AI advantage and turn it into companies, jobs and productivity for our country.
Liberal
François-Philippe Champagne Liberal Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC
Thank you for raising that. I think AI is the defining technology of our time. I think it's the holy grail of productivity, and I'm glad to see that.
You may remember that Canada was the first country in the world to have a national AI strategy. We were the second country in the world with a voluntary code of conduct, which was very much in line with what the White House had been putting forward. Now we have more than 30 companies. As Minister Freeland just said, we have put $2 billion toward what we call computing capacity, because when you have the brain, you need the hardware. We've been working with Cohere. We've been working with some of the best in the world, and they are in Canada.
By the way, I would say that we should be very proud that Canada is seen as a leader not only in AI, but in responsible AI. You would have seen that we did this great announcement in Toronto last week. In San Francisco.... Canada was among the first countries, with the United States of America, to create an AI safety institute to make sure that we have a place where we can verify these models and where we would contribute to AI safety.
I'm very proud to say that AI and quantum are two key sectors. They are technologies that will have an impact on every sector of the economy. As Minister Freeland said, this is a great way to make Canada more competitive, support companies like Cohere—which is crowding in investment in Canada, as she was saying—and make sure that we'll have data sovereignty and data security.
That is something that is very much looked at because in the world we live in today, Mr. Van Bynen, as you know, a number of countries are looking at where to put these assets. Canada offers not only the security aspect, but the energy. That is the work. When you talk about AI today, people would say you cannot talk about AI without talking about energy.
We are blessed in Canada. In many parts of the country.... You may have seen that Alberta recently sent a delegation to track a number of investments. You've seen that. I was just in Newfoundland and Labrador last week, which is putting a lot of power online. We have seen that in Quebec and Ontario. Many provinces are working to offer that kind of renewable energy. I think those that are going to be able to have the AI in terms of computing capacity to store the data, and at the same time have the renewable energy, are going to win in the economy of the 21st century.
I'm glad that you're mentioning how Canada is leading. The investments that we put in, thanks to Minister Freeland and the vision of the Prime Minister to lead in the technology, are going to be defining.
I would recommend the book Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit, which was authored by Dr. Kissinger, Eric Schmidt and others. If you read it, you would see that some compare the power of AI to what we've seen with electricity. Imagine the transformation we'll see in our lifetime. This is really something that Canada is leading. We're proud to invest in that key sector, not only for this generation, but for future generations.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Thank you, MP Van Bynen. I'm afraid you're out of time.
We'll turn it over to Mr. Savard-Tremblay.
Mr. Savard‑Tremblay, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, I'd like to ask you another question about something I find important. In fact, I know that you're also very attached to this: the aerospace file. When will we see the almighty strategy for this sector?
I would ask you not to talk about investments, but rather about the strategy, at the political level.