International Trade Committee on Oct. 30th, 2017

[Karen Ludwig, Liberal, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Andrew, perhaps I could get your recommendation, as someone who has been so tremendously successful in a very short period of time. It may not feel short to you, but I think that's very fast. What recommendations would you give to others on how to supersede the system, work through it, and be willing to take on significant risk, particularly as a new immigrant?

[Andrew Sochaj]

Maybe I was just really lucky.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

That's a good answer—a short answer. Thank you, sir.

[Andrew Sochaj]

I am lucky to be in this type of business right now. Aerospace production is sold out for the next eight years. I don't need to go after.... Yes, I am spending money on exhibitions ,and so on, on aerospace shows, but at the same time, I have just one person doing sales. My customers are calling me, actually. I don't need to call them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Thank you, sir.

We'll move on to the Conservatives now. We have Mr. Van Loan from the riding of York—Simcoe.

Welcome to the most exciting and vibrant committee on the Hill, sir.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Thank you. It is an exciting committee.

I want to commend the committee for doing this study. When I was trade minister and we made the Canada-Europe free trade agreement the focus of our efforts, I came to the conclusion also that Canadian business had a serious problem, which was that we were opening lots of doors but not necessarily walking through them with all the trade agreements we were entering into. I tried during that time—I don't know how it continued afterwards—to focus particularly on the chambers of commerce, such as yours, of those countries to stimulate a bit of opportunity.

I look at your success, Andrew, with Cyclone, and I come to the conclusion that while you are tremendously successful, it's not because of your Polish market strategy. Because of the nature of your product, there's not a big Polish market for it, isn't that correct?

My sense is that we have in this country all sorts of folks who come from these backgrounds, but somehow the business community finds it too easy to be seduced by the easy big market next door: go to the United States; we talk the same language and watch the same football game on Sunday and can talk about that, and so on. Even to the extent that we've been in Europe, it has been overwhelmingly U.K. stuff—a similar kind of problem.

My question is particularly for the Poles. In the Polish community there has been a great deal of success in trade, but it has tended to be through people in the Canadian Polish community finding products in Poland to sell to the Canadian market, both the diaspora market and the broader Canadian market, with not so much going the other way.

Why is that, and what needs to be done to change it?

[Wojciech Sniegowski]

First of all, because the majority of Polish businesses are small and medium-sized, it's hard for them to undertake the policy of exporting. It's more complicated, more capital intensive. That's one reason.

Then, the regulations were so much more complicated. Poland went through a definite market change. Then it was independent and then part of the EU. The regulations on importing were therefore changing.

What Andrew just mentioned is also very difficult. For example, interpretation of particular laws and regulations in Poland is very questionable. You may get different interpretations, depending on which city you're trying to do business in.

People were not eager to export to Poland because of all these complications. The current agreement with Europe should facilitate exporting much better, but again, we need to have some simple rules from the perspective of Canadian businesses. We have to basically encourage people. People get into their habits quite easily, and it's difficult to get them out of them.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

My hope was that with so many people having people-to-people ties in Europe—language ties, cultural ties—you could take any country in the European Union, and we have it in Canada. If we could persuade Canadian businesses somehow to look within their own ranks or look within those communities and find people to bring into their ranks to develop a strategy to seize opportunities in these markets....

What would it take to wake up Canadian businesses to do that? I place the fault to some extent on the existing Canadian business community, which keeps going down the path of least resistance.

[Wojciech Sniegowski]

If our big brother from the south would care enough, that would do the trick.

[Karima-Catherine Goundiam]

I went on a trade mission to London in June. There was massive emphasis on big companies, massive emphasis on tech companies, and the small and medium ones that employ people were not of interest. I had to call them out a couple of times and say that we are here, we're doing our thing, and we are exporting.

If there's anything to be done, I think it's to share the stage a little bit with the big ones and showcase those that are not stars but that are still doing the job of employing and doing the work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

You don't have much time left. You only have about 20 seconds.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

I was afraid I was right at that point.

Well, I'll simply say I haven't heard an answer from anybody, and it's not any different from before when I was trade minister; I kept shaking the business community, saying, “Look at these opportunities that are coming down the road.”

It's not going to be done by government. It can't be done by government. It has to be done by entrepreneurial people within these communities, who can go to businesses and create those opportunities. Is there anything that the Canada-Poland Chamber is doing?

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

We can't.... That has to be recorded as a statement and not a question.

We're going to move over to the Liberals. If you can't understand French, you should put an earpiece on, because Madam Lapointe has the floor.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Good afternoon.

If you speak French, so much the better!

[Wojciech Sniegowski]

I speak a little bit of French.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Congratulations.

Welcome to the committee.

I could speak in English, but I'm the only one speaking French here, so I'm sure you'll understand why I want to express myself in French. It's my

mother tongue.

[Wojciech Sniegowski]

We are in Canada.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Exactly.

Mr. Sochaj, you said that the company you bought in 1990 was created in 1964. When did you arrive in Canada?

[Andrew Sochaj]

I arrived in March 1978.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Did you start working for Cyclone MFG Inc. right away?

[Andrew Sochaj]

Yes, the next day.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Wow! Did you have all the necessary skills? What kind of training did you have? I am curious about all that.

[Andrew Sochaj]

I finished university in Poland. I designed a diesel engine for my diploma, and then when I arrived here I went to Ryerson and to Humber College. I took classes over seven years, and then when the company was for sale, I was ready to buy it.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

We talked about general skills earlier. What should we say to Polish people, from your home country, who are immigrating to Canada? What should they know about Canadians, both francophones and anglophones, when it comes to negotiating with us, for example? That information could be put into a little guide.