Evidence of meeting #30 for International Trade in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was lng.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Travis Allan  Vice-President, Public Affairs and General Counsel, AddÉnergie Technologies Inc.
Nicolas Pocard  Vice-President Marketing , Ballard Power Systems Inc.
Clerk of the Committee  Ms. Christine Lafrance
Peter Zebedee  Chief Executive Officer, LNG Canada
Hari Suthan Subramaniam  Chief of Strategic Growth, Opus One Solutions

12:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

:You have 45 seconds.

12:45 p.m.

Bloc

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

Okay. That's fine.

I'll turn briefly to Mr. Allan from AddÉnergie.

We know the importance of product reputation in international trade.

Is Quebec's expertise currently recognized, or is there more work to do?

12:45 p.m.

Vice-President, Public Affairs and General Counsel, AddÉnergie Technologies Inc.

Travis Allan

We consistently hear, particularly in the United States, about Americans who are looking for the expertise in not just building but also deploying charging stations.

The City of Montreal, for example, is known across the continent as a leader in our particular sector for its curbside charging and the work it has done on EV charging, and Hydro-Québec as well, as a leading utility network.

In general, Quebec is already doing a very good job, but I still think there's more room to grow because there is so much expertise there.

12:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Thank you very much, Mr. Allan.

We'll go on to Mr. MacGregor, for two and a half minutes, please.

12:45 p.m.

NDP

Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Subramaniam, earlier you had an exchange with my colleague Ms. Ashton. I wrote down one line. You were talking about how we needed to ensure that we get into markets. You listed off some countries, such as Australia and South Africa, non-traditional areas that we need to get into.

The other committee that I'm a permanent member of is the agriculture committee. We've often had discussions with our agricultural exporters about what's needed to get past non-tariff trade barriers. Often what has come up has been suggestions that we need to staff up our Canadian embassies and consulates with officials from CFIA who could understand the local market, the culture, and try to find ways to get more Canadian agricultural exports into those emerging markets.

Is something similar needed for our export of clean technology? Do we need to staff up Canadian embassies and consulates to get more on-the-ground intelligence about what's needed for us to really maximize our push in this area?

12:45 p.m.

Chief of Strategic Growth, Opus One Solutions

Hari Suthan Subramaniam

Yes. If I may, I would say it's great work on agriculture. I do believe in that. We are a huge agricultural economy and the exports are crucial to that.

There are also clean-tech ambassadors embedded in certain embassies, and then there are some revolving ones for major ones like the region of Africa from, as they call it, a science and technology perspective. However, can we use more for specific sectoral growth to Canada, even outside clean tech? The answer is yes.

The model we should as a nation be looking at is the U.S. Commercial Service, where the Department of Commerce has embedded folks from specific sectors in State Department-run embassies that do their job amicably well. That's a great model.

12:45 p.m.

NDP

Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC

Yes, we just want to—

12:45 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

I'm sorry, Mr. MacGregor. You're down to 15 seconds.

Just for the interest of the committee, I'm watching the clock very carefully, trying to finish this round if possible.

Mr. Hoback, you have five minutes, please.

12:45 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, witnesses.

I'm going to continue down the same line I was on before with regard to what opportunities are sitting there in the international marketplace and what niches Canadians should be carving out in those opportunities.

Mr. Subramaniam, you've already talked about this. I wonder if the other witnesses would like to talk about this a little bit.

Mr. Allan, let's go with you. What other opportunities do you see in the marketplace?

12:45 p.m.

Vice-President, Public Affairs and General Counsel, AddÉnergie Technologies Inc.

Travis Allan

I think it's anything to do with using energy more efficiently, because we have such a strong energy sector. Then I think, frankly, its some of Canada's traditional legacy sectors like mining and all the work that goes around mining and mineral resources. Those are going to be essential to building up the battery supply chain.

Then we have some really exciting emerging manufacturers of zero-emission vehicles, not only in Winnipeg but also in Quebec and Ontario. I think those are areas where we stand to really get some great growth.

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK

Mr. Pocard.

12:50 p.m.

Vice-President Marketing , Ballard Power Systems Inc.

Nicolas Pocard

I totally agree with that.

I think we're starting to see that, whereas traditionally, conventional internal combustion engines are not produced in Canada—only part of them—I think that with the zero-emission mobility we have the opportunity now to see that value chain being redeveloped in Canada, where we have complete zero-emission vehicles being made in Canada. I think this is one very important area of growth, as in the past, for Canada to regain some position in the value chain.

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK

Thank you. That's excellent.

Mr. Zebedee, at LNG, you have supported the British Columbia NDP government. Is that not correct?

12:50 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, LNG Canada

Peter Zebedee

That is correct.

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK

In fact, they are very actively supporting you. Is that fair to say?

12:50 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, LNG Canada

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK

Can you explain to me the difference between the provincial NDP and federal NDP, because Ms. Ashton was almost hostile towards you?

12:50 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, LNG Canada

Peter Zebedee

I don't know if I want to get into any comments between respective political parties.

I think we have a good story. We have the opening up of what will be the first LNG industry in Canada. It's a good story for Canadians at all levels, both for political parties and also for everyday Canadians and workers. We have a good product that we're going to export that will make the world better.

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK

Back to article 6, if we don't see that, how does it impact your future?

It may not be this project but further projects down the road.

12:50 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, LNG Canada

Peter Zebedee

We certainly support the implementation of article 6. We think carbon offsets and trading are essential components of future growth in the LNG industry, both for LNG Canada and also for other players.

Beyond that, we will have to look for the implementation of things like nature-based solutions and technological innovations to reduce the carbon footprint of LNG production in Canada to support future growth. We think it's kind of a basket of all of those things that are going to be required going forward.

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK

It gives us a diverse basket then. Is that correct?

12:50 p.m.

Chief Executive Officer, LNG Canada

Peter Zebedee

That's correct.

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK

Okay.

Mr. Subramaniam, I believe your company does the online power administration. Is that correct?

12:50 p.m.

Chief of Strategic Growth, Opus One Solutions

Hari Suthan Subramaniam

We do parts of that, yes.

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK

I'm just kind of curious, with small and medium reactors coming into play, how that fits into the expansion of the network that's required, so that we don't see diesel generators at charging stations and so that we don't see a diesel generator being towed behind a trailer or an electric car. Where do you see that coming forward?

Then, how do we take condos that are built in the 1960s and 1970s and modify them to actually take on electric vehicles at this point in time?