Debates of Nov. 2nd, 2020

A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved.

Telecommunications

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Madam Speaker, last week, I had the opportunity to ask a question of the minister on rural broadband. I asked her specifically to not give an answer about who installed more or invested more money in broadband, whether it was the Liberal government, former Prime Minister Harper or Sir John A. Macdonald. The minister proceeded to tell me that the government had invested more money than former prime minister Stephen Harper did and did not provide an answer to the question.

I put that answer out to my constituents and asked if this was an answer they felt addressed their issues and concerns. Unsurprisingly, the result was a resounding no. Residents in my riding are fed up with the lack of affordable and reliable Internet, and they got back to me in droves. I am going to share a couple comments I received.

I received a comment from Jim, who said, “We use Rogers Rocket hub and as now with COVID, I work from home and my daughter has come to live with us from the city. Our monthly bills have topped $700 a month. It is completely unacceptable.”

Marianne writes, “We also have a Rogers hub. It gobbles up the data and at this point we actually had a bill of $400 in one month. This is when our grandchildren came to stay with us and they were trying to do school work from home.”

Leanne writes that she chose to send her children back to school because she knew they did not have reliable and affordable Internet at home. Her concern is, “I have sent my children back to school where they could be exposed to COVID because we do not have reliable Internet at home and the cost is astronomical.”

Charles talks about how for years he contended with a $300 monthly bill. He asked why the government could not invest to fix this. He has children in Ottawa who pay less than one-third of that price and get high-speed Internet.

Lai says in her email, “Pardon my language,” so I am going to pardon her language as I read this. She says, “Internet in Mansfield sucks. I cannot get any providers that give me more than 5 Mbps or sometimes 6 Mbps with a DSL connection. Are we living in the stone age in Mansfield?”

This is what is going on in my riding every day. The Internet is unreliable and unaffordable. My constituents are tired of glib answers like, “Well, we invested more than the previous government did” and “Wait, maybe something exciting is coming down the pike.”

They need answers now. They need affordable Internet now. When are they actually going to be connected to reliable, affordable broadband?

[Gudie Hutchings, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development]

Madam Speaker, I am very happy to respond to the hon. member for Dufferin—Caledon about the need for Canadians in rural communities to have access to reliable and affordable telecommunications services.

Our government recognizes the importance of broadband and mobile services for all Canadians to fully participate in the digital economy. We know the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced how critical these services are to our economy, our communities and our society as a whole. Our government does have a plan to connect all Canadians, no matter where they live, to the high-speed Internet services everyone needs to work, to learn and to keep in touch with loved ones. We are committed to connecting all Canadians, even the hardest to reach, by 2030.

Through several coordinated initiatives, we have made billions of dollars available, and we are already seeing progress. Under the connect to innovate program, the government is investing over $585 million to improve high-speed Internet. Partners in the private sector, the provinces and the territories have provided significant co-funding, and the investments total more than $1.2 billion. Connect to innovate is delivering real results.

We anticipate bringing improved Internet connectivity to over 975 communities, 190 of which are indigenous communities. This will improve access for approximately 390,000 households and 1,200 anchor institutions, such as schools, libraries and medical facilities across the country from coast to coast to coast.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the CRTC, is also taking action to expand Internet and sell access through its $750-million fund. The first five projects announced under the CRTC's fund will connect over 10,000 households in 51 communities, the significant majority of which are indigenous communities.

Building on these efforts in budget 2019, the government announced historic investments of $1.7 billion in broadband, our country's single largest investment to advance these goals.

As indicated in the recent 2020 Speech from the Throne, the government will accelerate the connectivity timelines and ambitions of the universal broadband fund to ensure that all Canadians have access to high-speed Internet. The government has been engaging with stakeholders to ensure the fund responds to rural needs, and we look forward to a program launch very shortly.

We will also take advantage of other measures to promote rural access. This includes investments in low-earth orbit satellites to ensure that even the most challenging northern and beautiful remote areas have access to increased investments for broadband from the Canadian Infrastructure Bank, as well as spectrum policy tools and accelerated investment incentives.

Finally, the government is working with the telecommunications industry to ensure that Canadians stay connected and Canada's networks remain resilient in these challenging times.

In conclusion, the government is committed to ensuring all Canadians have universal access and is rolling out a number of important initiatives to realize that objective. I look forward to working with my colleague across the House to make sure we connect all Canadians.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Madam Speaker, by that answer, 2030 is when the Liberals are saying everyone will be connected. They are already behind, so I do not believe they are going to meet that deadline. That is 10 years from now, so I guess the answer I get to tell Jim, who is paying $800 a month for Internet, which is $9,600 a year, is that it is only going to cost him another $96,000 to continue with his slow, unaffordable Internet.

I got a partial answer: 2030. Great, that is awful for my constituents.

There was no answer on affordability. What is going to happen with affordability? Could the member please tell me that I do not have to tell Jim he is going to pay $96,000 for his Internet over the next 10 years, while the government does nothing?

[Gudie Hutchings, Liberal, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Madam Speaker, I have some words for Jim through the hon. member across the way.

Just this September, the member opposite's own community benefited from our investments in the Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology project, which ensured that construction of up to $16.6 million in broadband infrastructure in Dufferin County and the Town of Caledon is now moving forward.

We have a strong track record of delivering results and we are going to build on that success as we add a brighter future for rural, remote and indigenous communities. Our government is going to continue to be a champion for robust and affordable access and an enabler of economic growth, innovation and social inclusion.

I am from a really rural riding and I understand the importance of connectivity. I am proud to be part of a government that has a plan to connect all Canadians. Work is under way every day, and in the next 18 months we will connect an additional 250,000 households to high-speech Internet.

Infrastructure

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to follow up on a very exciting issue that I first raised in the House last month: the Alaska to Alberta railway.

I was glad to see in the news last month the announcement by the Alaska - Alberta Railway Development Corporation that it had secured the necessary American permit to move that project forward. This railway will be tremendously beneficial to Canadians for a number of reasons. First, the costs of this railway are all being paid for by the private sector. The Alaska - Alberta Railway Development Corporation is a private-sector business that is willing to put up $17 billion of investors' money to move that project forward. The only ask of the federal government is to rubber stamp that permit so that the project can move ahead.

Second, this project will create lots of jobs: 28,000 good, high-paying jobs for both indigenous and non-indigenous people in Yukon, the Northwest Territories and the rest of western Canada. As we come out of the pandemic, unemployed Canadians are going to need jobs to go back to, and the Alaska to Alberta railway can help create these jobs.

Third, this railway presents an exciting opportunity to connect Yukon and the Northwest Territories with the rest of Canada and to open up Canada's north. Residents in Yukon and the Northwest Territories pay some of the highest grocery bills in the country because foodstuffs have to be flown in to remote northern communities by airplane or trucked in during the winter across ice roads over frozen lakes and rivers.

According to a recent study by the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition, the living wage rate in White Horse was $19.07 per hour in 2019. That places White Horse among the highest costs of living anywhere in the country. If the people in the Yukon and Northwest Territories had regular, reliable rail service, then grocery bills and the cost of living would go down and the people in the north would have more money left over in their pockets at the end of the month.

Finally, the Alaska to Alberta railway will help the landlocked provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta to get western Canadian resources to international markets. Saskatchewan and Alberta produce more wheat, barley, canola, lentils, oil, natural gas and potash than we can possibly consume domestically. Anything that we can do to get those goods to tidewater and on to international markets will be beneficial to everyone.

I realize that the government has not yet received an initial project description for the Alaska to Alberta railway, but I would like to know if the government can at least see the potential benefits that this project presents to both indigenous and non-indigenous people in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and the rest of western Canada. Will the government commit to working in good faith and in co-operation with the Alaska to Alberta Railway Development Corporation so this project is given every consideration to move forward to the benefit of everyone involved?

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Madam Speaker, this government is committed to the sustainable and responsible developments of major resource projects in support of a healthy economy for all Canadians. We are working to ensure our energy and natural resource sectors remain a source of good middle-class jobs, prosperity and of course opportunity across the country. We are committed to supporting and promoting the competitiveness of our Canadian companies in order to attract investments, open international markets and get resources to markets.

Should the Alaska to Alberta Railway Development Corporation choose to advance its project through the regulatory system in Canada, our government will work to ensure a timely and predictable review. To help Canada achieve its commitment to a cleaner environment and sustainable economy, we are delivering high-quality environmental and impact assessments openly and effectively. These assessments include contributions from the public and indigenous groups, and all in the goal of enabling the government to make evidence-based decisions about major projects.

The Impact Assessment Act put in place better rules to protect our environment, to rebuild public trust in how decisions about resource development are be made and to ensure Canada remains competitive in the global marketplace. It ensures broad factors are considered in project reviews, including all facets of a project: economic, environmental, social and of course health aspects.

The Impact Assessment Act ensures greater transparency in federal decisions on major projects. The new impact assessment regime means that both science and indigenous knowledge inform decision-making. These changes will increase public confidence that major project assessments can move forward in a timely and responsible way. The Impact Assessment Act streamlines the assessment process and improves coordination with the provinces and territories to reduce red tape for companies and avoid duplicating efforts in reviewing proposed projects.

Under the Impact Assessment Act, all assessments will occur in partnership with indigenous peoples as well as provinces and territories. Canadians will have the opportunity to express their views early and frequently in the process and industry will have more clarity about requirements. Project reviews will be more rigorous and efficient and timelines will be made more predictable.

Our government that knows a clean environment and a strong economy go hand in hand. We will continue supporting good resource projects in Canada in a responsible, transparent and timely fashion, while also ensuring a sustainable future is there for future generations to come.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Madam Speaker, I am glad to hear at least some qualified support from the government for the Alaska to Alberta railway, but I have to admit I am concerned this may be a case of déjà vu.

About a year and a half ago, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency recommended the approval of the Teck Frontier mine. Teck Frontier represented a $20-billion private sector investment that would have created 9,500 jobs. Unfortunately, Teck Frontier's application sat on the Prime Minister's desk for six months.

I ask that the government not turn the Alaska to Alberta railway into another train wreck the way it did Teck Frontier. Could the government promise it will not let the Alaska to Alberta railway application sit on the Prime Minister's desk for six months and instead move that project forward quickly?

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Madam Speaker, our government is committed to growing our economy while protecting our environment, and we will continue to ensure all good projects move forward in a timely manner.

With Canada's new Impact Assessment Act, our government is increasing regulatory certainty and clarity and encouraging investment in Canada's natural resource and related sectors. We are going to continue to work with Alberta and all provinces and territories to provide good jobs and clean, sustainable growth for people in all of Canada's regions.

Economic Development

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Madam Speaker, in June 2019, the member for Sault Ste. Marie, the parliamentary secretary responsible for the economic development initiative for northern Ontario, announced $800,000 of FedNor funding for the tech company Skritswap. It is nearly a year and a half later and Sault Ste. Marie has seen very little, if any, benefit to its economy as a result of that.

When this company applied for FedNor funding, the applicants listed the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre as their corporate address, but the director of the innovation centre has said publicly that Skritswap does not use their facilities; perhaps they use it for forwarding their mail to their more permanent address and occasionally they will borrow a desk, from time to time.

The director actually contacted FedNor after Skritswap's funding was announced and was concerned that the company was not actively trying to hire local workers. We know that the vast majority of this company's labour force is based out of southern Ontario and it has job listings and job postings across B.C. and in California as well, so there really is no sign that Skritswap managers have used their FedNor funding to create a single job in Sault Ste. Marie, or in northern Ontario for that matter.

As our party's shadow minister for the FedNor file, I was contacted by constituents from Sault Ste. Marie who were wondering how economic development funding that has been earmarked for northern Ontario can possibly end up going to a company that operates largely, if not entirely, out of the south. The purpose of FedNor, if I am not mistaken, is to help support the economy and create opportunities for businesses and workers in northern Ontario.

My constituents raised this issue with me after I raised it in question period. There are many deserving businesses in Sault Ste. Marie, but also in Sudbury, Timmins, Thunder Bay and across my riding of Kenora and potentially in Dryden or Sioux Lookout or many of the communities I represent. I wonder how many of these companies were passed over for funding in favour of this company, which appears to have nothing more than a PO box in the region. It does not seem fair to many people across northern Ontario.

As I mentioned, I raised this question for the minister in question period. Unfortunately she avoided the question and went on to talk about the government's pandemic relief, seemingly unaware of what question I was asking. Therefore, I would like to give the opportunity for the government to address this once again.

Can the parliamentary secretary tell me, tell members of this House and tell all Canadians, particularly those in his riding, how many jobs were created in Sault Ste. Marie as a result of this FedNor funding?

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages (FedNor)]

Madam Speaker, I am happy to respond to comments made earlier by the member for Kenora regarding repayable funding provided to Skritswap in 2019 by the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario.

Right from the get-go, let me make one thing very clear to set the mind of the member opposite at ease.

This federal contribution is a loan, not a “no strings attached” grant. Whatever money has gone to Skritswap, it has been with the very clear condition that if a company fails to meet its goal of growing business in northern Ontario, it will need to pay back the funds in full.

We invested in Skritswap because our government understands the importance of investing in northern Ontario to create good jobs and grow the economy. FedNor has long been a key partner for entrepreneurs in northern Ontario, and they work with businesses and entrepreneurs to build stronger communities.

We have seen this, loud and clear, throughout the COVID pandemic. Through our regional recovery and relief fund, RRF, FedNor has supported more than 130 organizations with more than $23 million. Through this funding, we have directly supported more than 1,800 jobs. Further, these grants have gone to organizations that show the diversity of our region.

As of October 15, 33 RRF recipients are women-owned or -operated, 16 are indigenous businesses, 43 are tourism businesses and 112 are located in rural areas. The same goes for FedNor-funded Community Futures organizations. To date, we have provided more than $22 million to nearly 650 organizations, and directly supported more than 1,500 jobs here. Of these Community Futures clients, 247 are women-owned and -operated, 44 are indigenous business, 224 are tourism businesses and all 645 are in rural areas.

These are important numbers, because they show, time and again, that our government is there for businesses in northern Ontario, in all these ridings, when those businesses have needed help.

I will also note that it is strange that the Conservative Party is focused on this in particular. For whatever reason, Conservatives have decided to dust off a story that was initially reported in the summer of 2019 and to which we have consistently said that the money will be repaid if the company fails to meet its goal of creating jobs in northern Ontario. They may not be proud of the work that FedNor does and they may want to discourage other women entrepreneurs from entering the tech field in northern Ontario, but we are proud to be helping entrepreneurs create jobs in my riding of Sault Ste. Marie and across northern Ontario.

I would also like to take a moment to talk about the company, Skritswap, because it is clear the Conservatives would like to muddy the waters. Since 2015, the company has received attention for its work on artificial intelligence. It has attracted venture capital, not just from FedNor but from angel investors in Canada and the United States. It has done this while headquartering in Sault Ste. Marie.

Contrary to what the Conservatives claim, Skritswap reports having no employees located outside of Canada, let alone in California. It has four permanent employees, two in northern Ontario and two located in southern Ontario. On top of that, it has created 16 temporary skilled contract jobs across Canada since the pandemic began. The company understands that any jobs created from the FedNor funding need to be created in northern Ontario, or else the company will have to repay it all in full.

Of course, Skritswap faces the challenges of how to recruit and retain talent in northern Ontario. We understand that many entrepreneurs across northern Canada face the same challenges. That is why our government is supporting immigration to rural Canada through programs like the rural and northern immigration pilot, which is helping entrepreneurs and employers find the talent they need to compete and which will help our rural communities prosper.

The reality is that these companies are exactly the type of business that northern Ontario and Canada need. These are the jobs of the future. To support these job creators, we must continue to work to address the skills gap in the region and to invest in entrepreneurs. We are proud of how FedNor is working with the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre, Algoma University and Sault College to identify good opportunities. We are proud to be a government—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The hon. member for Kenora.

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Madam Speaker, to address the comments of the parliamentary secretary, the reason I am bringing this forward in the House of Commons now is because the constituents in his riding asked me to, because he was refusing to listen to them.

For good reason, they asked me to investigate this. The answer of how many jobs this company has created in northern Ontario seems to be zero. I asked the minister a direct question, and throughout the five minutes that the parliamentary secretary had to respond, he was not able to address it.

I would advise the parliamentary secretary that if the government wants to grow the economy in northwestern Ontario, it could provide support to businesses in northern Ontario.

I would like to know, under what criteria was the company deemed eligible to receive FedNor funding, and in what ways is FedNor going to monitor the success or lack thereof of this funding, particularly as it pertains to Skritswap?

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Madam Speaker, again, we thank the member opposite for his concern.

However, we need to remember the facts. As we have said consistently, this money came with the condition that if the promised jobs are not created in northern Ontario, then the loan needs to be repaid. We have made that clear to the company, and the company has informed FedNor on several occasions that it understands this condition.

We made this money available because we are committed to supporting entrepreneurs in northern Ontario. We do that by continuing to invest in Canadian entrepreneurs and business to ensure they have the funding they need to benefit from cutting-edge opportunities and to help them provide opportunities in northern Ontario, to forge rewarding, high-paying careers in emerging high-tech fields.

This funding was available even before COVID-19, and we have continued to support these vital sectors of the economy since the pandemic began.

I can assure the member that we will continue to be there, to grow northern Ontario's economy and create good jobs in the region after the pandemic is over.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 7:43 p.m.)