Evidence of meeting #132 for International Trade in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was companies.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Once we go fully metric, then you will be able to better compete across—
President, Northern Cables Inc.
Now we can open up and work with the Business Development Bank, and work with programs to get into global.... We export our product all over the world now, but it's to very specific areas where no electrical code works...like in a mine site where there's a Canadian engineer and he specifically asked for our product.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Thank you.
Getting on to what my friend Mr. Allison was talking about, the previous government and we, as Liberals, have introduced and signed a number of treaties.
If we look at the manufacturing industry in Canada, we can't compete with countries like China and India. It's going down. Either we have to be a knowledge-based economy or there have to be programs in place so our SMEs are able to grow into bigger enterprises that can trade internationally and provide opportunities for our young people.
I would like to know how the companies and the government can work in collaboration. This is open to all of you. Anyone can chip in.
President, Northern Cables Inc.
Our biggest challenge is really to get standardization and then get regulation out of our way. We struggle. We're in Ontario, so we struggle with all kinds of things to be competitive. We struggle with electricity. We struggle with labour laws. We struggle with all of those things that are just part of our environment. Then, at the same time, when we have an opportunity to go to the foreign market, we're fighting against our own standards that haven't gone global yet.
Before we can worry about some of the other programs, the first step is to get Canada on a level playing field with the trading partners we have.
Liberal
Chief Strategy Officer, Communitech
If I understand your question correctly, in a couple of areas of technology, Canada has the capacity to have world-leading advantage. Artificial intelligence, quantum computing and regenerative medicine are places where we really are at the front of being able to create some world-changing products and services.
It's important for us to think about how we can back the momentum in those really critical areas of technology, because that's where we can make a big difference.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking
Thank you, Mr. Dhaliwal.
We're going to the NDP.
Mr. Choquette, you have the floor.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
My first question will be for you, Mr. Noël. I will start with the end of your presentation. You talked about dairy farmers in Canada. They are—how should I put it politely?—a little exhausted by all the breaches in supply management from the negotiations of both recent free trade agreements. They are of course expecting action from the current Liberal government. You briefly mentioned last week's economic update. Were you as surprised as the dairy producers to find that there was nothing in this update, no announcement, no sign that they would be compensated for all the losses they have suffered as a result of those trade agreements?
Director, Strategy and Economic Affairs, Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec
As a first response, we know that the federal government wants to organize consultations on this issue, in which we want to participate actively since many of our members are concerned about it. We really hope that the measures will be clarified in the next federal budget.
Furthermore, we often hear that some producers have not received anything under other free trade agreements, or that payments were significantly lower than they had been promised, according to them. We want the compensation parameters for dairy producers to be defined in the short term. It is also desirable that a system be put in place quickly, applied diligently, to speed up the payment of the compensation promised to dairy processors. Contributions from the dairy processing investment fund should also be paid, prorated to the volume of production.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Absolutely.
In my riding in Drummond, a number of dairy farmers have come to see me. They had applied for the dairy farm investment program, but they did not receive anything because the window for receiving applications for the program was open only for one day, 24 hours or something like that. Overnight, they lost the opportunity to receive funding in preparation for those agreements. They hope that the next window for receiving applications will allow everyone to submit them.
I have another question for you about a problem that we are seeing a lot right now, particularly in Quebec, but also across Canada, namely the labour shortage. I think it is because of the changing economic, labour and training needs. Does the federation have a position on that? Does it plan to ask the federal government to support the provinces in this economic transformation? All businesses—including SMEs, I believe—are facing these challenges when it comes to recruiting a skilled workforce capable of performing today's new tasks.
Director, Strategy and Economic Affairs, Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec
That's one of the main issues our federation is facing. We are working extremely hard to try to remedy this labour shortage, which is a major problem in Quebec. The federation offers the Un emploi en sol québécois program, which targets several sectors of the economy. Because most—if not the vast majority—of new immigrants arrive in the greater Montreal metropolitan area, we want to encourage them to settle more in the regions to fill vacancies. In our prebudget submission to the federal government, we are asking for specific assistance to help retain experienced workers in the workplace. This federal assistance could help to offset the labour shortage.
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Noël.
We raised this subject in the recommendations of our 2015 report.
Ms. Arsenault, you talked about the importance of being connected to high-speed Internet across Canada. What could the government do to help you in that regard?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Cape Breton Partnership
I had a little difficulty picking up the last part of what you just said, but I think you were asking about the Internet.
I did a fair amount of research and talking with our small and medium-sized businesses across a range of industries before coming here today. I was a bit surprised by the feedback I received. I expected them to list this program or that program, and say they need this or that. However, it wasn't like that at all. It was very basic. I'll give you an example.
One of them is selling millions of dollars' worth of seafood around the world every day but can barely book a plane ticket on the Internet, because the service doesn't stay up long enough to hit the submit button to get the ticket booked to go to a trade show in Beijing. Another example is they can't carry on a cellphone conversation from the plant to their home because the cell service is so poor.
Many of our rural businesses and our rural regions across the country are exporting, and the programs and services are there, but for some of them to be able to scale up and grow, it really becomes about general access to the world. Broadband Internet and cellular service are so tremendously important for some of our rural communities. The connect to innovate program was not particularly helpful for our region.
There is a provincial Internet trust currently in the works that we are hoping will mean a change. It's really a very fundamental thing. It's probably not what you expected to hear from me today, but....
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Mark Eyking
Thank you.
Time is up for the NDP. We're going to move over to the Liberals.
Madam Ludwig, I think you're sharing your time.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Thank you.
I'd say, Ms. Arsenault, that you should speak with your MP.
Liberal
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Double duty, then....
I'm going to start with you, Ms. Arsenault.
I represent the riding of New Brunswick Southwest. Certainly, broadband and cellular infrastructure is absolutely critical, not only to attract business to our rural areas, but also to keep people there.
You mentioned specifically the Atlantic immigration pilot. Could you share with us the results you have from that? Do you do any tracking or matrices on the follow-up?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Cape Breton Partnership
Regarding the Atlantic immigration pilot program, the particular piece I was acknowledging was that we have a partnership with ACOA and the Nova Scotia office of immigration. That has enabled us to hire program leads who are on the ground in rural regions. They work for organizations like ours and are connecting businesses with the office of immigration, working with them side by side and helping them through the paperwork process.
Many of those small businesses don't have the internal resources. They have no idea where to start or where to go, so we have staff who are knocking on the door and saying, “If you are having labour challenges, this is a great alternative for you,” and working them through that process.
We started a little more than a year ago, and just over 100 companies have become designated to date. Of those, we have just over 99 endorsements. The designation is getting companies designated to receive an individual, and the endorsement is when the candidates have been identified. Many of those are bringing family with them.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Thank you.
Is there a particular region of the world that your companies are targeting, or a particular skill set that they feel is lacking in the area?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Cape Breton Partnership
For the Atlantic immigration pilot, the NOC codes are a bit different from those in some of the other streams, which has been incredibly beneficial, so we're bringing in chefs and a number of different types of NOC codes that we traditionally could not have. It has not been specific. It has been really dependent on the needs of those individual companies.
Liberal
Liberal
Richard Hébert Liberal Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you, Ms. Ludwig.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Let me congratulate all the witnesses for providing us with illuminating insight into the various situations presented to us.
Ms. Peters, you must have been pleased to hear in Minister Morneau's economic update that there would be money for digital media. I think you have certainly mentioned the assistance that will be provided to the media.
However, my question is for you, Mr. Noël. You talked about the importance of doing business with the United States and capitalizing on the most natural border possible. We are talking about exchanges worth $2 billion every day, of which you are certainly aware. You are also probably aware that the team of the Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion is very focused on this.
In recent years, Canada has signed 14 different agreements with 51 countries, opening up additional markets with a total of 1.5 billion customers. Can you tell us if your members are aware of those numbers and of our services, for example by visiting our Innovation.canada.ca website? I suppose so, but I would like to hear you say it and I would especially like to know whether our officials are helping you enough to export more. We know that companies that export more pay their employees better. It's a cycle. Could you comment on that?
Director, Strategy and Economic Affairs, Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec
We recognize that the government is doing a lot these days to inform SMEs about the benefits of certain free trade agreements. However, the SMEs often tell us that they are not sufficiently aware of the assistance programs. In other words, they need to be better informed about opportunities and challenges in other markets.
As for the United States, I have talked at length about it. It is important to diversify our exports. In its economic update, the government announced measures to increase and further diversify business exports. Regulations, including customs obligations and certification processes, should be monitored. The government should work much more closely with businesses and make an effort to share the assistance with them. I think that's critical.
For our part, we toured the companies. We visited 11 regions and met with 500 participants to introduce them to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), between Canada and the European Union. In Montmagny, for example, we talked to 60 entrepreneurs—a huge number for the region—to let them know about the many opportunities this free trade agreement offers them. So we are doing our part. The use of existing networks such as the FCCQ could help to promote this and achieve those objectives.
Liberal