Evidence of meeting #78 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 product.
A recording is available from Parliament.
October 31st, 2023 / 12:50 p.m.
Liberal
Liberal
Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Thank you very much.
I'm sorry about that. I was thinking about all these excellent questions and answers because a lot of the questions I wanted to ask have already been answered.
However, this is a very interesting subject. Previous to this life, I used to work for the Economic Development Corporation in helping entrepreneurs start up and grow export and import.
My question is perhaps for Shannon.
During COVID-19 and the shortage that we had with sanitizers and the hoarding that was happening in the United States, people were publicly shamed, and they should have been. Obviously, both Americans and Canadians were trying to get their hands on literally anything, right? Today it seems, now that we're hearing some testimony from Canadian companies, that there seems to be some impediment to this.
What is it? When we deal with small and medium-sized companies versus large companies.... You know, I have trepidation, because a lot of times we'll see large companies trying to corner markets by developing patents, intellectual property, patents pending or copyrights on various pieces in the manufacturing process or in the end product. Are there any large companies in the United States, for that matter, that are doing that? I think about that, and the reason I asked that question is that I think of drug companies that try to patent the size and shape of a pill or the colour of a pill.
Shannon, are you aware of any kinds of movements of people trying to corner the market in this area?
President, Canadian Consumer Specialty Products Association
Madam Chair, as I mentioned in my opening comments, I've been with the industry for 25 years, and I have never seen that.
With respect to the disinfectants, I have never seen an industry work harder during a pandemic to be able to work with Health Canada to provide Canadians with the products they needed, whether in the hand sanitizer space or in disinfectants, due to the shortages we had. I see this as building on a really great collaboration that delivered for Canadians during a very difficult time, and the regulation really embodies that.
We're very pleased, and we're hopeful that we are able to move it forward and address some of the outstanding concerns that have been raised.
Liberal
Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Thank you for answering that. That first question leads to my second question, then.
If there's no real legal impediment to these products, what kind of dialogue is happening right now between Canadians and Americans about the importance of continuing that free flow of products that happened during COVID-19? We were sending stuff across the border. We were asking them to send stuff up to us. Where is that goodwill, and why isn't that goodwill being reciprocated these days to help our small and medium-sized enterprises?
President, Canadian Consumer Specialty Products Association
Madam Chair, I think that this regulation does exactly what you want it to do. The collaboration will continue, because our new hygiene reality is here to stay. The demand for the disinfectants is not waning. We're still seeing a 210% increase in submissions at Health Canada. There's still a need for these products because of the issues we have in and around infection control.
I don't see the goodwill diminishing. I'm hoping that with this regulation, Canada will move forward as a leader in how we regulate biocides and that other countries will want to emulate us.
Liberal
Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Yes, because I saw not just the private sector but also the public sector getting together in my community. The Canadian Institute of Forestry looked on its shelves and was able to put together a number of formulas to create barrels of hand sanitizers for our local community. I just want to see that happen expeditiously.
I understand the frustration of our local companies that want to get into the American market, obviously. The U.S. is 10 times our size. Just an eight-hour drive from Sault Ste. Marie are 40 million people, so—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Thank you very much, Mr. Sheehan.
I'm sorry; it's just that the time is up.
Thursday is another day for a similar discussion.
Thank you all very much.
Monsieur Côté, we will see you on Thursday. Thank you.
The meeting is adjourned.