International Trade Committee on March 30th, 2015

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Currently the programs only go the other way.

[Jean-Paul Deveau]

I find that generally those types of programs are relatively minimal, and so if we're looking to create the hundred-million-dollar companies, you want to put some teeth behind it so it would actually be substantial and would make it happen.

We are often bringing in 25 buyers at a time from certain organizations who are going to come in, and they go back trained technically. They are generally wowed with what they see in terms of our Canadian capabilities and they are going back and preaching that their organizations need to do more business with us. These are the types of things that develop business.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

This is a question for Ms. Kehler.

One thing this committee is going to be talking about—I hope we'll get around to it—is the free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine. That's something there's a lot of support for in this whole Parliament.

You talked about Kazakhstan. Have you considered doing business with Ukraine, and would you consider it even in these turbulent times there?

[Sheila Kehler]

We have done business in Ukraine in the past. Things became difficult. We were receiving more business in Kazakhstan so we have gone primarily to Kazakhstan, but it's not that we would not consider it.

[Melissa Vencatasamy]

I would also add, even prior to the recent changes that have happened between Russia and Ukraine, Ukraine has always been a more difficult market to enter in terms of their customs requirements. The certification they require to clear goods through customs has always been quite a bit more intense than in the other CIS market countries. That's one thing we did come across already five or ten years ago, that it was a lot more difficult.

[The Chair, Conservative, Randy Hoback]

I'm going to have to stop you there. Sorry, the time is up.

We're going to go to Mr. Cannan, please, for seven minutes.

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thanks to our witnesses. Like Ms. Freeland, I too would like to thank each one of you great witnesses, as talented, diverse, Canadian entrepreneurs, for taking time from your workplace to be here with us to share some of the successes you've accomplished to date, and tell us how we can help move that balance sheet so that the revenues and the bottom line are even more profitable for you.

I come from British Columbia. I had a business in Alberta and a business in British Columbia as well. I know especially for the family business of mom and daughter.... It's great to see you working together and continuing the legacy.

Maybe you can share how you got from Winkler, Manitoba to Kazakhstan.

[Melissa Vencatasamy]

That happened almost by accident. We were originally approached by a Russian company that wanted to buy farm equipment. At the time my parents were running a local John Deere dealership. Eventually we split it apart, but we started by exporting to Russia, and the farm in Russia sold some equipment across the border into Kazakhstan. We went there to help set up, teach them how to operate and maintain the equipment, and found it to be a really great market to work in. The people were very hospitable and friendly.

That's kind of how we ended up setting up shop in Kazakhstan.

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

That's very interesting.

As you alluded to in your opening comments, you want to look at diversifying into Asia. Are you using the services of our trade commissioner service? I don't know if you've tapped into those. There are over 160 offices across Canada.

Just a few weeks ago Minister Fast and the Prime Minister announced some additional funding that will be available over the next five years to help small and medium-sized enterprises expand to those markets.

I just want to make sure you're aware of those services that are available and are utilizing them.

[Sheila Kehler]

We are working with trade commissioners in all the countries where we're working. We are aware of their service and they've been very helpful to us as well.

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Fabulous. I would ask our other witnesses, have you had a chance to use the trade commissioner service?

[Jean-Paul Deveau]

Absolutely. About 25 years ago we started developing our business in Japan and they were instrumental. Those were the days when there was no Internet. Collecting information was challenging. We were constantly dealing with those people in Japan. They were instrumental in pointing us in the right direction to address markets, in our case, which are relatively obscure, so it was not that simple to collect information. We've done that and replicated that around the world.

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Menawat, I was in Washington last week for three days. I noticed you mentioned that your number one partner is the U.S. I gather you've tapped into TCS.

[Dr. Arun Menawat]

We have not only in the U.S. but also in Japan. I have nothing but great things to say about that team.

One thing that's really inspiring is that these people are not only knowledgeable, but they are also quite passionate about taking our technology to these countries. They really work long and hard hours.

Specifically in Japan, we sent them a two-page document about what we were looking for, and they did amazing research, sought out all the potential partners, organized the meetings, and made a very productive visit, which ultimately resulted in an agreement. We're very complimentary of that effort.

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. St-Amour, you can answer that question and then I have one additional follow-up question.

[Normand St-Amour]

While you were away voting, I received confirmation that on June 11, I will be going to Japan to participate in the first exchange. I do not yet have any experience with them, but I hope I will acquire some experience on June 11. I don't know how to answer that question because I have not been there yet.

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

I'll have a a toast to your success there.

The other aspect you mentioned is the challenge of getting all the information, compiling it in one area. There is a website, canadabusiness.ca. If you're not familiar with that site, it's a one-stop shop for business to go to. It has everything from starting your business, planning, financing, managing, growing, government contacts, all throughout. It's a hidden jewel in some cases. We need to get the word out and better communicate that message. It is very helpful for entrepreneurs.

I have a constituent who just wrote a book on his experience in small business and trying to help entrepreneurs, everything from Stats Canada, using what's called KPI, key performance indicators, and the importance of a small business and comparing yourself to other industries. That's all available for free online through Industry Canada as well.

I had one other question for you, Mr. Deveau.

You commented about our GMAP, global market action plan. Are there any specific areas you feel we should be concentrating on that we're not? Do you feel we have the right mix with our present GMAP?

[Jean-Paul Deveau]

When I look at what's involved in that and what you're seeing in the documentation—looking at general directions and the scope of where the focus should be—I'm in agreement with what we see there.

When it comes down to how it's going to affect SMEs, obviously it turns into what specifics it will turn into as the programs are implemented.

For example, the information you just indicated, where there's been expanded funding for the trade commissioner service, those are things that are valuable. Generally, people will have more requests than they can ever handle, and then you keep poking at them to get the information you need and that's not there.

That's just the reality of the world. You don't have enough resources for everything, just like we inside our own organization don't have that, but that extra funding makes a difference.

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

We keep trying to focus on those dollars.

I have one last comment. You asked us to be a little more aggressive. Maybe you could expand on that.

[Jean-Paul Deveau]

Well, if you look at the support there is in Canada for research and development for business in particular, we have a lot on the academic side, and we have support for business-led R and D. I find that governments don't focus on exporting, on finding—

[The Chair, Conservative, Randy Hoback]

Could I ask you to very quickly sum this up.

[Jean-Paul Deveau]

Okay. I think more programs that would support business exporting in any way, shape, or form are going to get the attention of the people who are not currently exporting and get those who are exporting to export more.

[The Chair, Conservative, Randy Hoback]

Ms. Liu.

[Laurin Liu, NDP, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank the witnesses for being here with us today.

I know that you may have travelled a long distance and I would like to echo what Ms. Freeland said. I visit small businesses and I have seen how you support us, because your businesses are innovative and have created jobs in our regions. We thank you for that.

I will continue with Mr. St-Amour. Your business is near my riding, in the Lower Laurentians. I communicate regularly with representatives of small and medium-sized businesses. We are not far from urban centres such as Montreal, St-Jérôme and so forth. You mentioned some of the challenges that business people in rural regions face. You mentioned that there are no language courses, for example.

Are there other challenges that you must deal with as a business person in a mostly rural region?

[Normand St-Amour]

The challenges are the distances. On Saturday, I was in Quebec City. On Sunday, I went back to Mont-Laurier. Today I am in Ottawa and tomorrow I will be in Mirabel, and all because of my business. We spend as much time on the road as we do in our own bed.