Evidence of meeting #4 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 pandemic.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Conservative
Ziad Aboultaif Conservative Edmonton Manning, AB
It's $35 million. You mentioned that the direct investment that came to Canada—I believe it was last year—was $67 billion. Is that number confirmed?
Liberal
Conservative
Ziad Aboultaif Conservative Edmonton Manning, AB
Good. Is that an increase or a decrease from the year before?
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
Let me get back to you very specifically on that. I want to make sure I always give colleagues and certainly the committee accurate information.
Conservative
Ziad Aboultaif Conservative Edmonton Manning, AB
With respect to the $67 billion, which sectors show a growth and into which sectors is most of the investment going? Can you be specific on that?
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
Well, Invest in Canada, as I said earlier, is that one-window support which I think has been absolutely terrific. It's been terrific because it works with our provincial and territorial colleagues as well. We're really working as team Canada to attract that investment.
Conservative
Ziad Aboultaif Conservative Edmonton Manning, AB
I'm interested in the sectors, if you don't mind, where the investment is going. If you have those figures, you can probably plan to work on growing sectors that do not get enough attention or are not getting enough attraction from international investors.
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
Our focus, steadfastly, has been to make sure we are working with international investors so that they are looking at Canada as an international investment destination.
November 3rd, 2020 / 4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Ziad Aboultaif Conservative Edmonton Manning, AB
I'm not questioning your intentions, Minister. I'm asking if you can be specific on which sectors are seeing growth, in which sectors we see a decline, and what the plan is to work on the sectors that are not getting enough attention or attraction from investors across the world.
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
Well, let me give you some supporting facts and figures.
As I said earlier, $67 billion was invested in 2019. The FDI network facilitated 131 wins that generated $2.7 billion and created 4,400 jobs. There were 232 visits to Canada from potential investors, 850 FDI projects and 4,010 outcalls.
Conservative
Ziad Aboultaif Conservative Edmonton Manning, AB
Those are not dollar figures, Minister. I'm really interested in those figures, because I don't see them anywhere. I can't find them anywhere.
My background is in international trade, and I know that if there's a sector that needs attention, to plan for the future, to increase your budget toward the sector that we need to pay more attention to, that's how we can generate best results. If you don't have those figures, I would really appreciate if we could get them.
The next question is, where do you see our weaknesses on international trade?
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
Let me answer the question this way. Of course, it's important to support traditional sectors, like agriculture and agri-food across the Prairies and in rural Canada, fisheries on all three coasts, natural resources and energy in Alberta, and Saguenay, Quebec, steel and auto in Ontario, aerospace and manufacturing in Quebec, and forestry products in several regions. Why? These sectors are globally competitive. Canada is going to retain and increase our share of these tangible trades. At the same time, we want to help shift and help those businesses in the knowledge economy grow, and grow into the international marketplace.
That is the kind of work we are doing to help our traditional trading sectors grow and get that market share and continue to work, and work beyond those sectors, so that we can get our Canadian companies growing, and growing in the international marketplace and creating great jobs that are anchored here in Canada.
Conservative
Ziad Aboultaif Conservative Edmonton Manning, AB
Minister, that's who we are: what Quebec does or what Alberta does or the Prairies do. We know that every province in the country has certain competitive edges over certain industries and products.
What is your plan? Where do you think the growth is going to be? That's what we need to hear: where the growth is and exactly what your plan is for the future.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Minister, could you make that a short answer or else tie it into someone else's answer, please?
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
Sure.
Businesses are doing an enormous amount of growth. Whether it is in clean tech, agrotech or health tech, a range of businesses and services in the economy are taking advantage of these terrific trade agreements.
Our commitment has been steadfast. We're going to watch. We're going to always watch the backs of our Canadian businesses during this time, to make sure they get on the economic recovery so that they can accrue those jobs here in Canada, anchored in that recovery period.
Thank you.
Liberal
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Minister, CETA came into effect over three years ago. Early reports from Global Affairs Canada show there were massive jumps in Canadian exports to countries like the Netherlands, where we saw a 75% increase. With Ireland, we saw a 65% increase, and with Germany, we saw a 37% increase.
Could you tell us how COVID has impacted these early successes and how the agreement will be impacted as we continue to deal with the second wave in Europe and in Canada?
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
As I said earlier, CETA really was a high mark for trade between Canada and the European Union. We have been working very hard to help our Canadian businesses, particularly those small businesses, understand those market opportunities in the European Union and to help them grow.
You're right. The figures you quoted have simply indicated one thing, and that is that this trade agreement really is working for the benefit of our businesses, but there certainly is work to do. The member, of course, comes from British Columbia, and I'm thrilled that as part of our export diversification strategy, we invested in the trade accelerator program. It actually collaborates with the export navigator program in B.C. in helping our Canadian businesses understand those market opportunities in the European Union.
Five hundred million customers: that's what's available to our Canadian businesses. We're looking forward to continuing to help businesses get access to those opportunities and create the prosperity that our Canadian businesses will need to do here in Canada, anchored in good Canadian jobs.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Minister, in Surrey—Newton, almost 85% of the businesses are small businesses. In your large portfolio, which includes business and international trade, how do you see the integration between the two fields of your work?
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
That is a terrific question.
It is really and truly an honour to be able to serve as the minister responsible both for small businesses as well as international trade. I think all the members here understand that 99% of our businesses are small and medium-sized businesses, so we have the Canada trade umbrella, which is what I call our trade tool box. We have in there the trade commissioner service, which is Canada's best business development team and sales force around the world, helping our small businesses get access to capital through Business Development Canada, making sure of that insurance and the products that are needed for businesses to export and grow into the international marketplace. For those businesses that are working in places around the globe, where they need a country-to-country contract, there's Canadian Commercial Corporation.
We do take a team Canada approach with small businesses on one hand and international trade on the other. We are creating a “no wrong doors” approach so that we can help our businesses in their start-up, scale-up and accessing new markets.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Minister, new measures aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 have significantly affected how consumers make retail purchases. The option to purchase online has become an important alternative to walking into a retail store. Retail e-commerce sales have gone up, with some businesses relying more on this method. Could you please touch on some of the different e-commerce trends we've observed?
Also, despite the pandemic, businesses continue to do business abroad. How do you support them, considering that every country is dealing with this health crisis differently?