International Trade Committee on Oct. 2nd, 2018

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Thank you.

Harold, my friend on the other side, said that there were not enough consultations. However, it's my understanding that the government has well publicized all of these consultations—a lot of press releases, a lot of press conferences—to make sure that SMEs and the big manufacturers are all aware of the process and how to participate in the consultations.

I understand Ms. Coulter's position because she didn't have the time and resources to get into those.

Mr. McHattie, tell me if the government has enough of those consultations and also if it has an easy process to apply for the safeguards.

[David McHattie]

I don't know off the top of my head, but I think the number might be 166 responses to the public inquiry, which is a fairly large number. The provincial governments have been working with the federal government, and I know that in my province, the NDP government had their officials do briefings for CME members. There were many opportunities, and I think it has been a very co-operative endeavour between the provincial government, the federal government, the industry associations and a lot of very willing companies to try to share resources and help each other out.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Mr. Ghosh, you have shown an intent to apply for the help that the government is going to provide. Are you happy with the process so far?

[Kalyan Ghosh]

I'm happy with the process in terms of timing, yes.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Ms. Coulter, are you still thinking...? Maybe you didn't have time in the past but there's a due process that government has to follow to help SMEs like you, and we have received 1,200 submissions. I'm sorry that you were not one of those. Are you willing to put a request in now or a submission to the Minister of Finance to help SMEs like you?

[Leigh Coulter]

I'll definitely take a closer look at whether I can qualify for this. I think that, now that I have a better understanding that there are these funds, I have to learn a little bit about what they are and what they're for.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Thank you, Mr. Dhaliwal. You're right on time.

That wraps up our dialogue with the witnesses and ends this part of the meeting.

Do you have a comment, Mr. McHattie?

[David McHattie]

I would like to reiterate our thanks to all three parties and the provincial governments and federal government for working together to obtain a NAFTA solution, USMCA. I think if we can put those same resources together to obtain a full exclusion from the 232 and to make a safeguard that works for the steelmakers and the steel buyers, the Canadian economy and all of our people will be better off.

Thank you to all three parties for your work on this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Thank you.

Thank you, witnesses, for coming with your busy schedules with your businesses and all the people who work for you or you represent. These are challenging times. Thank you again for coming.

We're going to have more witnesses over the next few weeks, and government officials will also be coming in.

MPs, don't go away too far. We're going to suspend for one minute, and then we're going in camera about some future business.

[Proceedings continue in camera]