International Trade Committee on Nov. 15th, 2022

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

You talk about how we get that enabling approach. That would also extend, I guess, to our regulatory approach here in Canada so that we are better able to foster that investment and that job creation rather than hinder it and send it to the United States.

[David Billedeau]

I agree 100%. It's very hard to attract investment, particularly in the critical minerals sector, when our timelines go up to 15 years to start production. We need to shorten that time span to attract major investment capital.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, sir.

We're on to Mr. Virani for five minutes.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Thank you.

I want to start with Mr. Breton.

You commented in response to what's been discussed about electric vehicle charging station infrastructure. I think you raised an important point about the fact that [Technical difficulty—Editor] of such vehicles will be charging at home, thus reducing the amount of public vehicle charging infrastructure that we have. You're nodding, so I guess I understood you well in terms of that.

You indicated that B.C. and Quebec have already had substantial success in building up vehicle charging infrastructure. Can you connect that to the idea about the provincial tax credits that are available in the province of Quebec and, if you have the understanding, what's available in British Columbia? Is there a connection between those two?

[Daniel Breton]

Do you mean the EV rebates?

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Yes.

[Daniel Breton]

Yes, there is a connection, meaning that it shows that both of those provinces are serious about making sure that more and more people adopt electric vehicles, compared to other provinces where there are no incentives to buy one or any will to develop a serious EV infrastructure.

However, with regard to your point, you have to keep in mind that more and more companies from the private sector are investing in EV infrastructure. I'll give you an example. One of our new members, called Parkland, owns a significant percentage of the gas stations in Canada, so they've decided to invest in EV infrastructure across the country. I'm sure you know Circle K. It is one of the biggest companies of the world coming from Canada—Circle K, Couche-Tard—and now it is one of the biggest infrastructure providers in Europe.

So, when you have private companies working with provinces and working with the federal government to develop wholesome infrastructure programs, I think we are on the right path. We have to do more, obviously, but I think we are in much better shape than some other countries are. We have to look at what's happening in Quebec and B.C. because they've really taken the lead on EV infrastructure.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

I note that with the change of government in Ontario in 2018, a very substantial EV tax credit was eliminated entirely by the incoming administration of Doug Ford.

Would you agree that this was a step backwards in incentivizing not only the purchase of electric vehicles, but also the supplemental supports, such as the charging infrastructure?

[Daniel Breton]

No, I don't agree: It was two steps backwards. It was beyond the EV rebates. You also had the whole plan to deploy EV infrastructure that was stopped at the same time. That was a big blow.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

I want to turn to Mr. Strickland and Mr. Simard.

You both mentioned what is aggressive in the IRA. You both highlighted nuclear. You know that in the fall economic statement, there's a statement about the investment tax credit, which I believe is part of the clean growth fund, of up to 30% being available for things like small modular reactors. There's a statement that follows a bit later about exploring large nuclear capacity as well.

Mr. Strickland, can you share your views on the availability of such tax credits and other financial incentives on the part of the federal government toward nuclear, broadly speaking, and not just small modular reactors?

[Sean Strickland]

Thank you for the question.

Part of my comments has always been centred around pursuing our competitive advantage in responding to the IRA. I think nuclear is one of our competitive advantages. We have a strong track record of nuclear in Ontario. We have a strong track record of nuclear in New Brunswick. Over and above that, there's this emerging technology of small modular reactors.

Small modular reactors have a variety of different uses. They are not only powering the grid; they are also powering large industrial applications. For example, there's mining. Most Canadians aren't aware of the thousands of litres of diesel that are helicoptered into our north to provide fuel for mining operations. It would be an opportunity for a small modular reactor to replace that and reduce the emissions and so on.

I think nuclear energy, small modular reactors and traditional nuclear are a competitive advantage that we have in Canada, and we should leverage them to whatever extent we can to increase our nuclear capacity.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Given that your hat is with Canada's Building Trades Unions, it's also a typical point that you have things like Bruce Power or Ontario Power Generation, which have very high-paying, unionized jobs.

[Sean Strickland]

They're all good-paying union jobs. All the proponents for small modular reactors in Canada are signing MOUs with unions to make sure that those are built using union labour as well.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Mr. Strickland, one of the things—

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

You have 11 seconds.

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Really? Okay.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Savard-Tremblay, you have two and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll be brief.

For infrastructure, I find it interesting that there is a difference of opinion between the two associations, both of which have members that represent electric vehicle manufacturers. I'm not quite sure I understand this discrepancy.

Mr. Adams and Mr. Breton, who are the members of your organizations?

[Daniel Breton]

As I was saying, several of our members make light, heavy and off-road electric vehicles. I'm thinking of Tesla, Lion Electric, New Flyer, Girardin, Nova Bus and Taiga. The latter company had its snowmobiles and personal watercraft rated among the best inventions of the year byTime magazine.

We have quite a few members in Canada, and most of them manufacture electric components or vehicles of all kinds.

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

My question was in fact about your members in Canada.

[David Adams]

All of our members are in Canada. However, we have two manufacturers: Honda and Toyota. The remainder of our 15 members are the traditional European manufacturers, German manufacturers, Korean manufacturers and Japanese manufacturers. We also have VinFast, which is a Vietnamese electric vehicle company. That's an associate member of the association as well.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Bachrach, you have two and a half minutes.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I have some questions for Mr. Simard.

As you know, the only aluminum smelter in Canada outside of Quebec is in northwest B.C. About a thousand people in Kitimat rely on it for their employment. It's a really important facility and was modernized just a few years back.

I wonder if you could speak about the people of that community and share your thoughts on what the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States could mean for aluminum production in Kitimat five or 10 years down the road.

[Jean Simard]

Well, I would say that it means the same as it does for the rest of the industry in Canada, the other primary smelters, because it's all a matter of supply and demand in North America. The Kitimat plant is certainly a world-class operation that ships into two markets, which are Asia and North America.

There will be an increase in the growth of demand for aluminum that will be pulled by the IRA. Depending on the products that are generated or manufactured out of Kitimat, they will be able to capture some of that increase in demand.

It's all in market play at the same time. Canada is not the only country exporting to the U.S. We are competing with the Middle East. We are competing with India and with some Asian countries. They are all high-carbon, and we have the lowest carbon footprint in the world, so that's an edge. In looking at the decarbonization of the U.S. industrial sector, Kitimat certainly has an edge on the competition.