International Trade Committee on Nov. 26th, 2013

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

How do they expand? Do we need extra money? Just by signing the agreement they'll magically expand?

[Dr. J. Colin Dodds]

No.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Okay, that's what I want to hear.

[Dr. J. Colin Dodds]

But you create an environment in which they can.

Universities are extremely resourceful in seeking out funding sources to move forward on collaborative projects. The more you have that, and the more that students get involved, on both sides of the Atlantic, the more they will want to come to Canada.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Again, I'll go back to the funding. Will the funding be available on the other side of the Atlantic as it will here?

[Dr. J. Colin Dodds]

There's an expectation that it will be, yes.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Perfect.

[Dr. Martha Crago]

It's our hope that the Canadian government will start to align some of the money the way the European government did in its Horizon 2020 program. It would serve everybody's interest if we had that kind of alignment.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Thank you very much.

I'll give you one more question, just because I'm a nice guy.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Dodds, you said there's a whole bunch of joint research programs already with your university and—

[Dr. J. Colin Dodds]

They tend to be more on the arts than on the social science side of studies. These are usually faculty oriented.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Do we need a free trade agreement—

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

No, I gave you one question.

Mr. Dodds, go ahead and answer.

[Dr. J. Colin Dodds]

As I said, what you do is create an environment for these to flourish and to develop, and to build up confidence and trust. That's what I see. I see this not only with the EU; I see a whole series of other trade agreements. My vision is to have these agreements throughout the world so that in fact we could be truly transnational.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

Very good.

Mr. Shory, go ahead.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses.

I'm very happy to hear everyone touch on the issue I am passionate about—foreign credentials—because I have lived through it. When I moved to Canada, it took me eight years to get back to my profession of law.

I can tell you one thing. During the time I have been a member of Parliament, this government has taken this issue very seriously. It has invested in it, even though education, as we all know, is a provincial matter. But we believe—and I certainly believe—that education must be utilized. It is not to be wasted.

I prepared myself to touch on this issue, but I guess it has been touched on a lot. I can see some positive hope in it.

Let me start with this. Earlier, we heard from the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters. They said that 24% of Nova Scotians employed are employed in manufacturing. They also said that only 500 businesses in Nova Scotia are exporting.

How do we build in an export focus for EU opportunities for Nova Scotian companies?

[A voice]

That's a good question.

[Dr. Martha Crago]

I think the CE mark is going to be one of the crucial issues in this. This is a certification mark. If that can't be harmonized.... Our equipment, of the kind I was discussing, which was invented by a Dow researcher when he spun off the company Satlantic, is costing $20,000 more per piece in Europe, and therefore fewer people in Europe are buying it. That's not encouraging us to export to Europe. That's something that needs sorting, this particular CE mark. The European companies, probably to protect themselves, are very demanding of that, so some kind of effort in that direction is certainly warranted.

[Dr. J. Colin Dodds]

I would see the service sector being a particular benefit in terms of exports. We've got huge resources in this area in terms of environmental firms that are involved in doing work around the world in environmental sustainability. I see it not just in manufacturing, but I see it particularly in the service sector.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Ms. Crago, during your presentation you mentioned that you already have some connections in Europe related to ocean research, and you also anticipate that research ties with Europe will strengthen. Can you give me some examples of where an industry has benefited from this type of research?

[Dr. Martha Crago]

There are a couple of different companies here that now sell.... There's a company called Vemco Amirix that produces tags that go on fish and receivers that pick up the signals emitted by those tags, so that we can track fish around the world. This company, which began as a spin-off from Dalhousie in somebody's garage, now has several European markets for these tags, largely because people become involved in our network and they use the same tags and receivers as we're using. This is an example.

The company has expanded and developed their tags and receivers, because as the science goes forward, the scientists of course always demand the “next step better” pieces of equipment. So by working together, science has developed the equipment, and it has marketed it internationally to a set of people in an international network reaching around the world. There are several lines of these receivers and tagged marine animals in Europe.

We know that the tuna off Cape Breton travels back and forth across the Atlantic a few times in the summer.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Thank you.

Coming back to foreign credential recognition here, could both of you actually tell us, as we draw closer to the EU, if there has been any progress on mutual recognition of professional credentials in any fields or other types of collaboration that you are aware of?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Merrifield]

I'll let you answer that and then we'll split the remaining time between our last two questioners and finish it off.

Go ahead.

[Dr. Martha Crago]

I can't tell you that for sure, but I can tell you from my experience in speech pathology that we now receive students for internships from Europe into our hospitals on an absolutely pro bono basis, and students from Canada go into European hospitals to do their internships. I can't tell you for sure right now where that profession, which I know well, is in negotiating things with Europe.

[Dr. J. Colin Dodds]

I can't add much to that either, except I've been on various panels on immigration and the constraints on immigration, and I know it's a huge issue in various professions, including the health and medical professions. It's just going to take time.