Industry Committee on April 24th, 2023

[Kiril Mugerman]

We are building right now the demonstration plant that will be able to process 1.5 tonnes a day of this material.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Fantastic. Thank you. That's great news.

I do have a question for Ms. Côté, but I think I'm going to run out of time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

You have a minute.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Okay. I have a motion to introduce, but first, Ms. Côté, answer quickly, in about a minute if you could, this question.

Across the country, which province is doing the plastic recycling process really well and that we should be emulating?

[Amélie Côté]

The main problem with plastics is that they have become more diverse and complex over the years. That makes recycling them a very complicated task.

An expanded accountability system for producers makes companies accountable for managing the packaging and containers they market. This makes the standardization of packaging more likely.

The main problem is that 57% of plastic packaging marketed in Canada is not recyclable at the moment. We're nowhere near being able to recycle it.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Thank you.

I understand too from the Nova Scotia folks that a huge number of those clamshells and things you buy your cookies in aren't recyclable.

If I could move a motion right now that we gave notice of, I want to apologize first to the committee members that the copy that was circulated had a couple of typos. I'll try to correct those typos in my presentation. We gave notice last week.

The motion reads as follows:

That, pursuant to standing order 108(2), the committee undertake a one meeting study on the federal government's massive 14-billion-dollar investment in Volkswagen to build an EV battery plant in St. Thomas, Ontario:

1. That the committee order the department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada to provide the committee with an unredacted copy of the contract(s) with Volkswagen

2. That the committee invite the Minister to appear for two hours to discuss the contract(s) in-camera

3. That this meeting occur no later than Monday May 8th, 2023, and

4. That the committee receive the unredacted documents a minimum of 48 hours before the meeting.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Thank you very much, Mr. Perkins.

For the benefit of our witnesses, we now have to discuss and debate the motion that's been put on the floor by Mr. Perkins, and we have a hard stop at five to go in camera.

I appreciate your testimony.

I'll recognize Mr. Fillmore.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I wonder if you would entertain a brief suspension, just so that we can understand the implications. I think there's nothing too out of line here at all, but we want to make sure that we understand it before you proceed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

I'll get back to this.

Go ahead, Mr. Lemire.

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

I, for one, am ready to vote on that.

I will of course support the motion. I would simply like things to be consistent from the language standpoint and for the term “caviardé” to be included in the French version.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

I will grant a very brief suspension, because we do have a hard stop at five. You have about three minutes, plus or minus.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Colleagues, I call the meeting back to order.

We still have this motion from Mr. Perkins on the floor.

As you can tell, it's been a very generous three minutes. I hope that we've come to a conclusion on this motion.

The floor is open for debate and discussion. Is there anyone who wishes to intervene?

I recognize Mr. Fillmore.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Thanks very much, Chair.

I don't think we find anything overly offensive in the motion, but we see some room for improvement.

We have good material to work with already, Mr. Perkins, but I think, for one thing.... I'll tell you what the ideas are, and then I'm happy to provide actual language and propose an amendment, if we're able to get that far.

The first thought is that we would find value in also seeing the provincial documents, so the provincial contract—

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Do we have access to those?

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

We can ask. I think it would be great if the motion asked for that.

The other thing is the precedent that was set for this kind of document production, in a case like this, at the public accounts committee regarding vaccine contracts. The way that worked was there were strict controls, with no electronic devices. For example, you couldn't be emailed the documents 48 hours ahead, but you could go to the clerk's office and review them in a safe and secure environment, again, with no phone. It's about protecting the integrity of the contracts and, therefore, the impact on consumer price.

That's the gist of the amendments.

I have language that backs this up, and I'm happy to read it into the record. I can also bounce it to the clerk, so that you get it in a more formal way.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Pending seeing the wording—I'm sure it's fine—that's okay with me.

Those are friendly amendments.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Can you remind me quickly, if you would, what the email address is? Is it [e-mail]? Okay. That's been sent.

We would start with Mr. Perkins' motion and then we would replace number three with the following number three:

3. That the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and department officials be invited to appear for a two hour in-camera meeting and that during the meeting, only committee members and support staff required for the meeting be permitted to attend and that no personal mobile, electronic or recording devices of any kind be permitted in the room during the meeting; that, during the meeting, numbered paper copies of the documents be given to committee members who are present in person by the clerk at the beginning of the said meeting and that these copies be returned to the clerk at the end of the meeting and that the clerk be instructed to destroy the said copies; and that no notes be taken out of the room.

Number four was good as it was.

On number five, we would modify it such that it would read that the committee would receive the unredacted documents from both levels of government—

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Colleagues, before we continue, I need to get unanimous consent so that we can continue for, I'd say, 15 more minutes.

Do I have unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Perfect.

Mr. Fillmore, you may resume.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Picking up where I left off, we're replacing number five as follows. The new number five would be:

5. That, when these documents are received by the clerk:

a. They be available at the clerk's office for viewing by committee members, for a minimum of 48 hours before the meeting under the supervision of the clerk and that no personal mobile, electronic or recording devices of any kind be permitted in the room that week; and that no notes be taken out of the room.

I've sent that to the clerk.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

I would just highlight a point that if the meeting is on a Monday and you say “a minimum of 48 hours,” is that on the weekend? It would be nice if members were around in Ottawa to go to review those documents.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

This is a fair point.

Would you be willing, Mr. Perkins, to change it to the 10th?

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Sure. We'll change it to the 10th.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

There we have it.

Number six will be snacks and beer.