International Trade Committee on March 21st, 2022

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

Yes, I am talking about a carbon adjustment mechanism equivalent to what has been adopted by the European Commission, that is to say, country-specific pricing.

[Daniel Dufour]

All right. I understand your question now.

This issue would probably fall more under our colleagues at Environment and Climate Change Canada. It would also perhaps fall under Global Affairs Canada, but primarily under Environment and Climate Change Canada.

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

Thank you.

I will keep that in mind, but I am surprised to hear it, given that we are still talking about trade and pricing at the border.

[Daniel Dufour]

I would be pleased to confirm it in writing.

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

Perfect.

Thank you for this information.

How much time do I have left, Madam Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

You have 20 seconds.

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

I won't have enough time to ask more questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you.

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

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you.

With regards to our exports and imports of clean tech, Asia and Europe are just two big categories. Is there any dominant country that we're dealing with in Asia and Europe? From our notes, we just have them as large blocs, which is pretty significant. I'm just wondering where there might be a significant connection.

[Daniel Dufour]

If I understand the question, you'd like to know whether we have dealings that are a bit more specific than just looking at large blocs such as Asia and Europe.

In terms of the level of co-operation we have on a variety of fronts, absolutely, we have science, tech and innovation treaties with a lot of these countries in Asia and Europe, by which we look at really specific collaboration in various areas, including energy and clean tech and other areas—

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Right but for Asia, for example, what's China as a portion of that? Do we have any idea? Do we have a couple of dominant nations? That's what I'm looking for.

[Anna van der Kamp]

I can answer that if you'd like. China is actually 2.8% of our total exports and then there's India at 1.4% and Japan at 1.2%. Those are the percentages of our 2019 exports.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Okay, so China would be the larger, but the smaller portions...compared with the United States and everywhere else.

[Anna van der Kamp]

Yes, they're a much different scale.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Yes, okay, thank you.

That's all, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

We'll go to Mr. Martel for five minutes.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Many thanks to the witnesses for being with us today.

I have several questions to ask.

As part of the green shift, we know that the demand for electricity in this country is growing. At the same time, we need to develop export markets. I wonder therefore if Quebec and Canada will be able to meet that demand.

[Daniel Dufour]

I thank the member for his question, Madam Chair.

That is a very good question. Right now, because of the energy crisis, we are assessing the availability of gas, electricity and oil. In truth, this question needs to be addressed one technology at a time.

In some cases, there is a bit of leeway, but not a great deal in others. In fact, given the supply to the United States, among other factors, full production has already been reached to a certain degree. On the other hand, this obviously frees up other sources of oil to help Europe get supplies.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you.

Do you consider green hydrogen and transforming natural gas to liquid with hydroelectricity to be part of the energy transition?

[Daniel Dufour]

I thank the member for his question.

Currently, no source is necessarily excluded. Obviously, there is a federal hydrogen strategy. So we are thinking a lot about the use of hydrogen as part of the energy transition, and we are also thinking about other sources. I would say that at this stage all these sources are being considered.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

How can we further develop and export them? Can you please give a brief answer?

[Daniel Dufour]

We invest in technologies and industries and we spread our investments across different technologies; it's not all concentrated. We offer them significant support through different government strategies to facilitate partnerships, research, investment and international collaboration. We use different strategies depending on the different sources, including hydrogen, which you mentioned earlier.

This is how we will support the ecosystem in its entirety.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Dufour.

I work a great deal with SMEs in my riding. Many of them are developing green technologies. I would like to know if financial assistance is available to them. They often ask me about this.

[Daniel Dufour]

We have the Clean Growth Hub, which is the entry point for small, medium, and even large businesses to direct them to federal funding for clean technologies. This is the place to go for that kind of information. It's a collection of 17 departments and agencies that support clean technologies in one way or another. It's really the gateway for all these industries.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Dufour.

My colleague has a question to ask and I will share my time with him.