International Trade Committee on March 6th, 2012

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Can I just then move to the next one?

You've talked explicitly about the services of the trade commission, about how significant they are, so we can only focus on the aerospace right now. Are there countries in which you're trying to do business where there isn't a trade commissioner? How do you deal with that?

I'd like a quick answer from both of you on it.

[Jacques Bonaventure]

We're fortunate because in our business there are trade commissioners, consulates, or embassies in the countries where we want to do business. So for us it's not an issue.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

So, Brent, I'm assuming that's the same answer for you?

[Brent Howatt]

Absolutely. Jacques and I are dealing in the same arena.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

What do we deal with in your industry? To me aerospace has a connotation of being high-tech, specific, with little room for mistakes, because mistakes would yield negative results.

Let me talk about the trade commissioner services. Should it be focusing, or changing a bit of a focus, on promotion or trade assistance? Or is that balance there?

Jacques?

[Jacques Bonaventure]

I think the balance is there. Certainly trade assistance is key. I think if we had a choice of flying at 40,000 feet, which is where this trade promotion is, as opposed to trade assistance, it could be a trade commissioner in São Paolo taking me to Embraer and introducing me to people. That has more value for a company of our size than talking about the KPMG study and how great Canada is and how great of a nation we are in aerospace. Trade assistance would be much more focused for us and much more useful.

[Bev Shipley, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Okay.

I'm going to turn my last little bit over to Russ Hiebert.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

How competitive is the TCS compared with what other nations provide? You have competitors from other countries that also have the equivalent of trade commissioners operating in the same areas. Do those trade offices for those countries provide services that we should be providing? Do you hear from them? Do you hear from members of the industry that they're getting support that we're not providing?

[Jacques Bonaventure]

I think we have a first-class service and I think it's recognized worldwide. In my sector, there's one aerospace person who's based at the U.S. consulate in Montreal.

Montreal is a centre for aerospace. There is a full-time U.S. person who does the same thing as our guys abroad. I've known the current individual and the previous one, and both of them were passionate about helping U.S. companies and making sure their U.S. suppliers or clients had access to Bell Helicopter, Bombardier, and Pratt & Whitney on this side of the border. The U.S. has a very strong trade service.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Are they doing stuff that we're not doing?

[Jacques Bonaventure]

I don't think so.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Do you have any comments?

[Brent Howatt]

I would say that our trade service is superior. The only situations I've heard of are relationship-based, so it's down to an individual. As far as the overall service and packages of supplies go, I've heard that in comparison with the U.S. system, ours is superior.

I was just down at O'Fallon Casting this past week doing a visit. Management had told me they don't even use the U.S. trade people because they're ineffective. They have to employ several regional reps, multiples with internal staff, to make up the difference. That's what they need to be equivalent.

So from our position, I'd see us as being highly competitive. We are able to leverage our trade commissioners to fill in a lot of those gaps and open the doors for us. That's a huge advantage and a cost savings that goes right to our bottom line, something we can put towards being competitive.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Ravignat.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to begin by thanking you for being here today. I believe it is an opportunity for us to see how we might go about improving service. So it is more or less with that in mind that I will be putting my questions to you.

A survey was conducted in my riding, the Pontiac, in order to determine how many businesses were aware of the existence of the Trade Commissioner Service. I must say that these companies knew very little about the services offered by trade commissioners. And this is what leads me to ask you a question regarding visibility.

Do you remember when you started using these services? How did you hear about the TCS? Furthermore, what might the TCS do to improve its visibility?

[Jacques Bonaventure]

Our company exports. We are, by definition, sensitive to the international trade dimension. I believe that the government is doing a good job in promoting the service. I do not know if that really answers your question. Companies in our sector are familiar with the Trade Commissioner Service.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Could you put yourself in the shoes of another company?

[Jacques Bonaventure]

Are you talking about a smaller company?

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Are you of the opinion that the service’s visibility is good in the case of a smaller sized company wishing to export?

[Jacques Bonaventure]

I believe so. I believe it is relatively easy today for anyone wishing to access the service, thanks to the Internet. The Foreign Affairs and Trade Commissioner Service website is quite well designed and is relatively user-friendly. If anyone wishes to access the service, it is not difficult to do so.

Furthermore, as Brent indicated, there are now regional representatives. There is one in Montreal and one in Toronto, and we deal with them regularly. There are resources outside the country and there are also local resources that help start-ups by providing guidance.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

What is your view, Mr. Howatt?

[Brent Howatt]

I would have to agree fully with Jacques on that.

Just to add to that, I think a lot of the companies need to make sure that they're qualified to work with the customers they're going after. In a lot of cases, it's not a lack of the trade commissioner service, but rather the companies aren't aware of the parameters they need to meet in order to be able to serve a customer.

It's really a partnership between the trade commissioner service as well as the company. The company— [Technical difficulty--Editor]

[A voice]

We've lost our feed.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

I would like to now move on to my second question. We might be able to come back to this, Mr. Howatt.

In the same context, that of attempting to improve service, I would like to talk about the length of the export process. As you are aware, the export of products or services is a lengthy process.

What have the stages and the length of the process been for your company? Did this extend over several years? In what way are trade commissioner services going to help in speeding up this process? We are really talking about the mechanics of exporting.

[Jacques Bonaventure]

It all depends on the market. I could talk about Japan. In our sector, there are three important players in Japan. We call them the heavyweights. They are Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi and Fuji. These are big players in this sector.

In the case of my company, Centra Industries Inc., we have been going over there regularly for two years. We have been to Japan five or six times, and in the case of at least two thirds of these trips, there was someone from the consulate or the embassy present during our meetings. These officials organized the meetings, and even when they were organized by myself, they were present to accompany us and to support the Canadian image we were trying to project.

This process can be lengthy. Firstly, one must identify a client and identify one of its needs. You need a good scenario. This can take two years. In certain markets—that of Japan, in particular—a company in our field that does not deal with trade commissioners has a very slim chance of breaking into the market.