Evidence of meeting #16 for International Trade in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was tpp.
3:45 p.m.
Associate Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, As an Individual
Well, there is history. Again if you go back to the Hall commission, it advocated that. If you look at the National Forum on Health in the late nineties or at the Romanow commission, there have been many efforts to try to move us towards a more universal public approach.
We are not—
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
3:45 p.m.
Associate Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, As an Individual
I certainly do.
3:45 p.m.
Associate Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, As an Individual
If you compare us internationally, we fall way below Europe in terms of public drug coverage. We're at just under 40%. Most European countries are around 70% to 75% public drug coverage.
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
3:45 p.m.
Associate Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, As an Individual
Yes. It's public financing of drugs. We're way behind Europe in that regard.
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Forgive me, because I don't know all the details of European public drug coverage. Is that means-tested? Is that how that works?
3:45 p.m.
Associate Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, As an Individual
It's going to vary in every country, but I don't think much of it is actually. The good thing about NICE in the U.K. is that the National Health Service there, for example, does provide universal coverage for everybody who's covered by the NHS.
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Ours in Canada is effectively means-tested whether you're a senior or a student or someone on welfare.
3:45 p.m.
Associate Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, As an Individual
It's a hodgepodge basically, and it's not very good coverage.
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Here's my question for you then, because I appreciate you clarifying your position. You made another reference to tobacco rules. You have a passion for health, and I respect that. Do you think Canada's tobacco laws are too lax?
3:45 p.m.
Associate Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, As an Individual
Well I was implying that, I think, in what I said about the plain-packaging legislation. I think that was a very unfortunate back-down on the part of the Canadian government. For all these years since then we've not had really effective plain-packaging legislation.
Australia, as you probably know, in 2011—
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Respectfully though—and I keep interjecting just so I can understand—even in our nation's capital the notion of being able to go out onto any patio to have a tobacco product isn't possible, and if you want to buy tobacco products, they're under wraps. They're under windows and the like, and they have various warnings and the like. Is your big issue the plain packaging? Is that what it comes down to at this stage?
3:45 p.m.
Associate Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, As an Individual
What I was saying was that the government should maintain policy flexibility to put in place any evidence-based approach that will deter smoking. Plain packaging is one of a number of different approaches. I would support all of them if they were shown to work.
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
I won't put on the record my cigar habit, because that would not be conducive to this discussion, but I appreciate your commentary.
Mr. Kassam, thank you for coming in after your travels.
Just as a first basic question, are you in favour of TPP?
3:45 p.m.
Vice-President, Business and Corporate Development, Ballard Power Systems Inc.
I am.
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
As I was looking at my notes, I wasn't sure that had come out.
So how would it help Ballard Power Systems?
3:45 p.m.
Vice-President, Business and Corporate Development, Ballard Power Systems Inc.
It will help provided it addresses the three issues that I talked about. Again for us our core business is intellectual property and the development of such. So if we're going to license our technology within these countries with which it is being negotiated, we want to make sure we have good protection so our IP is not being copied and utilized to a disservice.
Second, we want to see the reduction or elimination of tariffs on our products that are being exported.
Third, we want to be categorized under the renewables category when you are looking at the reduction of those tariffs, because oftentimes, as I indicated before, we sort of get lost in the shuffle there, and therefore don't qualify for those exemptions.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
You made reference, in terms of your three- or four-point strategy, that part of that was licensing the technology but keeping the core technology in Canada. In the environment of trade deals that Canada is aggressively embracing, is that getting harder to do, or do you think you're comfortable with keeping that core technology in our country?
3:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Business and Corporate Development, Ballard Power Systems Inc.
One of the things that are abundantly clear to us—and I was trying to make it sort of a soft illustration—is that even though only 10% of our revenue is in Canada, we still have our employee base here. We still have our core head office capabilities here. Why? Because Vancouver is the head of the world's fuel cell centres. Not only us but a bunch of other companies have located here because of the know-how and the people who reside here with that knowledge. From our perspective, we see us staying here. We see the people residing here and continuing to develop that core competency, and we see ourselves as an export business.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Mr. Kassam, I was shocked to hear you say that some 20% to 30% of the extra cost of your product is due to duties.
3:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Business and Corporate Development, Ballard Power Systems Inc.
Yes.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Is that typical around the world or is that for any particular country or is that roughly average?
3:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Business and Corporate Development, Ballard Power Systems Inc.
Yes, it's roughly average, I would say. India, for example, is 30%. Indonesia is 20%. It really depends upon where we're going. Japan is 10% to 15%. From country to country, how we get categorized in those countries makes a huge difference.