International Trade Committee on April 26th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Minister.

We will move on to Mr. Savard-Tremblay for two and a half minutes, please.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Madam Minister, you said that the strategic innovation fund would help a number of companies in many ways.

Are you satisfied with the current criteria?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Well, I would love to speak to you much more about the details of the strategic innovation fund, but I think Minister Champagne would be best positioned to do that as the minister responsible.

What I would say is that the strategic innovation fund is making those very needed investments to help Canadian companies grow and accelerate during this pandemic. The ability to grow some of the domestic biomanufacturing capabilities, like with Sanofi Pasteur, is one example.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

I completely understand. Nevertheless, I'll ask my question again. We know that this fund has mainly benefited multinational corporations, rather than SMEs.

Are you satisfied with the current criteria or could we consider changing the criteria by closely examining this issue?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

I think it's important for our investments to be there for small and medium-size businesses and for a whole range of businesses, and that's what budget 2020-21 does.

As the international trade minister, I will say that when Canadian companies succeed and are supported, no matter their size, that creates jobs and it is good for the Canadian economy. There are a range of investments. Maybe the one thing I would point you to is the $450-million investment in venture capital that goes into those great businesses. We also want to make sure that a portion of this—I think about $50 million—will be there for under-represented investors and businesses as well, to make sure that this growth will truly include all people in Canadian business.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Minister.

We move now to Mr. Blaikie for two and a half minutes.

Go ahead, please.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you.

Madam Minister, in your remarks earlier you mentioned your interest in developing a more progressive trade agenda.

Export Development Canada obviously is an important tool in the Canadian trade policy tool box. There was a legislative review tabled just before the last election, in July 2019, and I'm not alone in looking for evidence of what the government intends to do in response to that legislative review, particularly in regard to calls for more transparency in the way EDC operates.

I'm wondering if you could inform us as to any plans that your department has in order to take action on some of the findings in the EDC legislative review.

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Thank you for that.

EDC has certainly been very instrumental in helping small businesses through COVID, particularly in terms of the work that has been done in providing that very necessary liquidity through CEBA, some $46 million for over 850,000 businesses.

We've been working with EDC to be sure that it is also setting climate targets, and now I'm very proud to say that it is the largest clean-tech financier in Canada, facilitating over $4.5 billion in business in 2020. More recently, we instructed EDC to do even more by aligning its portfolio with the Paris Agreement commitments for 2030 as well as for net zero in 2050.

EDC is an important part of Canada's trade tool box, and we will continue to work with it to ensure that it continues to help businesses in this pandemic but certainly on the path to recovery as well, being the important agency that it is for helping Canadian exporters.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Minister.

We go now to Mr. Aboultaif for five minutes.

Go ahead, please.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Minister, for appearing this morning.

Minister, how do you explain the absence of a trade review in the budget? To be specific in this question, there was hardly any significant mention of trade and its percentage of GDP. Why was that?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

This budget sets Canada up to finish this fight against COVID-19. It is making significant investments in our economic recovery, particularly for those who have been hit particularly hard as a result of COVID. It is supporting small and medium-sized businesses. It is supporting green growth. It is supporting strategic investments for businesses in the area of the knowledge economy, where many of our investments are. It is setting up opportunities to help Canadian businesses get access to financing and access to investment capital.

All of these things help Canadian businesses grow, and when you get Canadian businesses on a path to economic growth—this budget is about jobs and growth—our very companies here can take advantage of the 1.5 billion customers in the global marketplace that the free trade agreements provide for, and this work continues.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Thank you, Minister, but how does this line up with the absence of any mention of the target in the budget? If what you're saying is what's happening, the budget must reflect that, but it does not. Nowhere in the budget is there even mention—I'm being specific to make sure we agree on this thing, because this is the reality—of the percentage of GDP from trade. Why is that?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

Canada is a trading country. Supporting Canadian exporters to grow domestically and abroad is exactly what is done by this budget. This budget is about jobs and growth, supporting Canadian workers and businesses, so they can get on the road to recovery, which means they will be able to take advantage of the focused work we are doing to help them through the trade commissioner service.

The trade commissioner service continues to do its work, particularly helping scale-up Canadian clean technologies around the world, and it has additional resources. We've modernized the agreement with Israel, and there's investment in this budget for that.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Minister, with all due respect, if what you're saying is what's happening, the budget must reflect that, at least in the numbers, which it doesn't. How come?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

This budget is an ambitious budget for growth and jobs. It is a good budget for Canadians. It's a good budget for small and medium-sized businesses. It's a good budget for those very businesses that are the very exporters that I am so pleased to share.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

But there are no targets to meet. We need to see that. It's very significant to see the numbers reflected in the budget, but they are not there. Why?

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

This government is committed to tackling climate change while growing back the economy. There's a sum of $21.5 million over five years for the trade commissioner service, particularly for the ongoing adoption and growth of clean technologies. That's one area in the budget that is absolutely there to help our Canadian businesses grow.

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

I'm sorry, Minister, but you're not answering my question. You know that, and I know that.

If there are no targets in the budget, how can you have a road map implementing any of what you're saying? You're telling me you listened. We know we are a trading nation. We know we have many trade agreements. We know all that.

If the budget does not have a target, that means there is no plan, and this is on you, as minister, to explain why this is happening.

[Mary Ng, Liberal, Markham—Thornhill, ON]

I would disagree with the honourable member that this budget does not have a plan for Canada's economic recovery and job growth. That's exactly what this budget is about.

We are going to work with Canadians and Canadian businesses to help them grow, and to create those very jobs that are going to help our businesses and our economy come roaring back. We are going to bring back the over 100,000 women who have lost jobs during this pandemic, to bring them back into the work force through a $30 billion investment in early learning and child care.

This budget is there to get people back to work, and to help our small businesses finish the fight against COVID-19. This budget makes the very necessary investments to help our workers get back to work and our businesses to grow. Yes, that growth is going to be both here in Canada and also in the international marketplace.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Minister.

We knew you were here for the first hour. We thank you very much for the information. Certainly, if members have additional questions, they can send those questions to you, and I'm sure you would be pleased to answer them and provide them with additional information.

Thank you, again, Minister. We'll allow you to leave.

Your departmental officials will remain.

We'll now go to Mr. Arya, for five minutes.

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to recognize that the kinds of investments the Government of Canada has made to support businesses through this pandemic have already started paying off, from the Canada emergency business account to many other measures that support Canadian businesses.

The Bank of Canada has now revised its GDP growth forecast for the year to 6.5%. That is up from 4% it had forecast in January. We know that trade accounts for the bulk of our GDP. The last numbers I have are from Macrotrends, showing that trade accounted for about 65% of GDP in 2019. So there you go: the Bank of Canada is forecasting increased GDP growth of 6.5% against 4% it had predicted in January.

With regard to the other aspects, the minister mentioned the Canadian Commercial Corporation. In my view, that corporation has much more potential to help Canadian businesses, especially the SMEs.

The minister also mentioned that, unfortunately, this pandemic has increased the demand for protectionism from different countries, and Canada as a trading nation should be wary of this. We should be watchful.

We have already entered into many free trade agreements across the world. Can we move the resources that have been allocated in negotiating the free trade agreements in order to implement, and allow Canadian businesses to avail themselves of the benefits of, all of the free trade agreements we have signed?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Verheul, did you want to answer that question or recommend someone else?

[Steve Verheul, Assistant Deputy Minister, Trade Policy and Negotiations, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development]

I may ask if Sara Wilshaw can respond to that.

[Sara Wilshaw, Chief Trade Commissioner, Assistant Deputy Minister, International Business Development, Investment and Innovation, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development]

Yes, I'm happy to tackle that one, although I wouldn't want to speak to the resources that Steve and his team would still require for the work they do and will continue to do, which is really important, both at the WTO and on the bilateral regional trade discussions that continue.

In terms of the FTA promotion, though, I think this is where perhaps we can talk about some of the investments that have been made. In the fall economic statement of 2018, there was a significant investment made in FTA promotion that rolled out—

[Chandra Arya, Liberal, Nepean, ON]

I understand that. I'm sorry to interrupt. I have very limited time.

We have made investments. There's no doubt about it. Over many years we have been making investments in FTA and other related things, but it is time for us to get a benefit out of that. I'm not seeing that amongst the SMEs, especially the SMEs in the knowledge-based sector. They need to be helped to make use of all the free trade agreements that we have in place so that they can contribute to the Canadian economy.