Evidence of meeting #19 for International Trade in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was general.
A video is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Greetings to my colleagues.
I'd also like to thank the witnesses for being here.
I'd like to know what the basis is for assessing this foreign direct investment. For a long time, the definitions could be problematic, because they might refer to purely financial investments, for example. In this case, are there any assurances that it's truly an investment in productive activities?
Interim Chief Executive Officer, Invest in Canada Hub
At Invest in Canada, we are focused on greenfield investments—setting up new investments as a physical location in Canada—as well as brownfield, which are expansion investments.
These are the two areas we're focused on at Invest in Canada.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Let me rephrase my question.
I remember for a while the OECD had what I thought was a rather problematic definition of what constituted an investment. It could refer simply to a financial transaction. A financial transaction isn't really enough to constitute a new productive activity.
In your case, do you use a methodology to make sure that you really calculate what has an impact?
Interim Chief Executive Officer, Invest in Canada Hub
We look at jobs created in Canada and capital expenditures that are invested in Canada. Those are the two figures we look at when we're calculating foreign investment.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
That's fine, thank you.
We know that when it comes to foreign investment, there are rankings and real competition between countries to be among the most attractive locations. Generally, Canada does well, depending on the rankings and the annual reports in question, as well as their authors.
Are regulations assessed on an ongoing basis from an investment perspective, or are regulations and incentive policies assessed solely to attract foreign direct investment?
Interim Chief Executive Officer, Invest in Canada Hub
I'm sorry. Could you clarify that question with regard to what you're looking for?
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Are the current regulations and their impact on foreign direct investment subject to ongoing assessment?
Interim Chief Executive Officer, Invest in Canada Hub
No. I'm not aware of any such evaluation.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Excellent.
How much time do I have left, Madam Chair?
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
That's great, thank you.
The 2022‑23 departmental plan says that Invest in Canada has “reached out to over 54 million business decision-makers in over five countries and increased investor interest in Canada by 90%”.
To shed some light on this, can you tell us how these promotional efforts are made abroad? How is the work done on the ground? What's the main strategy?
Interim Chief Executive Officer, Invest in Canada Hub
We're focused on three results at Invest in Canada. The first result is the promotion result, which you're referring to, and that is part of campaigns that we run both in terms of content and advertising campaigns, as well as attending signature events.
We also work with our network of trade commissioner services abroad. We have officers who are dedicated to investment attraction, and they support us in advancing our promotion effort by attending signature events and hosting clients at those events to offer assistance in promoting Canada as an investment destination.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
I'd like to ask another question on how you assess foreign direct investment.
In this era of economic interdependence, how can we ultimately ensure that foreign direct investment is not, in a sense, domestic investment in disguise? In other words, how do we know that it's not a Canadian investment that has gone through another country flying what we might call a flag of convenience, and it's therefore been registered abroad? There are several ways of doing that. How do you ensure that the investor is truly foreign?
Interim Chief Executive Officer, Invest in Canada Hub
The companies we work with are typically companies that are looking to invest in greenfield or brownfield expansions, so they're not necessarily running through another country on a financial transaction. We work with companies that are looking to set up either a manufacturing site or a physical location here. They have headquarters in another location. The ones we focus on are typically well-known companies that operate in a foreign country.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
In your opinion, is the budget adequate? Whether it's for the Canadian Commercial Corporation or Invest in Canada, are investments meeting needs?
Interim Chief Executive Officer, Invest in Canada Hub
Yes, I believe we have an adequate allocation in our budget for what we are trying to achieve. We've seen substantial results over the past year on what Invest in Canada has been able to accomplish, including the promotional campaigns, working directly with investors and facilitating, as I mentioned before, the $5-billion investment into a critical sector for our country.
Liberal
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to our witnesses.
Ms. Curran, with regard to investing and targeting, how much of your work goes to the United States versus other parts of the globe? What kind of proportion do you focus on regarding the division of resources, just to get a snapshot?
Interim Chief Executive Officer, Invest in Canada Hub
Obviously, the United States is a key player in foreign investment to Canada. It represents about 50% of all investments that come into Canada. We do have a portion of our resources, both from a promotional perspective as well as servicing clients, supporting investors from the United States. However, part of our mandate is also to increase the diversification of investments that come into our country, so we are looking at working with investors from around the globe to help increase investments in countries that might not necessarily know about Canada as an investment destination.
This is also important for our promotional campaigns. Investors in the United States typically have a higher awareness of Canada as an investment destination, whereas some countries abroad may not be aware of all the benefits and attributes that Canada has to offer, so there might be a requirement to put more effort and more resources toward those countries that aren't fully aware of us as a country.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Obviously, that's the attraction in getting into the U.S. market too for those foreign, outside the U.S., operators and investors. How much of a problem or issue is that?
People like to think that the U.S. is a free market economy. It actually already has “buy America” policies and the Buy American Act on the books. The Americans are talking about expanding that. There's the Jones Act. There's a whole series of different.... In the defence industry, procurement is destined for American versus foreign investment, and so forth.
How much of a barrier do you run into? What's the strategy to deal with those types of issues, when it comes to insecurity about the political system in the United States, which can be protectionist at times?
Interim Chief Executive Officer, Invest in Canada Hub
We work closely with our colleagues at Global Affairs, like Ms. Wilshaw and her team, to help with answering those questions, when they arise from investors. We make sure they have all the information and they know Canada is well positioned to deal with some of those issues.
Right now, we're seeing really positive feedback from investors. That isn't a main concern for them. We're able to address those concerns with our partners at Global Affairs.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Where I'm from right now is very close to the Ambassador Bridge. We are, thank goodness, building a new bridge, and thank you, Madam Chair, for your work on that.
How much of a concern is there with regard to infrastructure access? We had the blockade down here, which was very damaging, not only in terms of what it did physically at that time but also with the residual concern afterwards that this type of lack of access or disruption could actually be a concern. Is it raised when investment decisions are made?
Interim Chief Executive Officer, Invest in Canada Hub
Earlier this year it obviously was a concern for some investors; however, it wasn't a long-standing concern and it was something they felt was not a major impediment to their investments. We were able to work with our partners across all levels of government to help ease some of the concerns, and we've seen that the results have been really positive investments.
