Evidence of meeting #22 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 windsor-essex.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:25 p.m.
Associate Professor of Finance, Schulich School of Business, York University, As an Individual
Overall, yes. More analysis is needed to figure out why exactly this happens, but overall, yes, a concentrated telecom industry that also controls infrastructure and potentially maybe also controls some information can create barriers to entry for others.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
My last question is in relation to the comparisons between the United States and Canada. I understand from your research that there are increasing levels of concentration over the last two decades in both jurisdictions, but we also see in the United States significantly higher business expenditures on R and D. Do you have anything that might explain why, despite high levels of concentration in both jurisdictions, there's such a significant productivity lag in the Canadian context?
5:30 p.m.
Associate Professor of Finance, Schulich School of Business, York University, As an Individual
That is a good question.
First of all, I want to mention that even in the U.S., despite the overall increasing R and D, when you detrend this information, you still see that there has been a decline in investment in both tangible assets and R and D. Unfortunately, Canada has been lagging behind on the technological aspects. I don't have a good answer as to why this might happen, but definitely the current environment does not help it, because the increase in the gap between the leaders and the laggers prevents knowledge dissemination, technological dissemination, and can essentially make the situation much worse.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Thank you very much.
I want to thank all the witnesses for being here today. It has been very interesting. I think your evidence will lead to some good recommendations. Thank you.
And once again, a very happy birthday to Mr. Ballingall.
The meeting is adjourned.