Mike Lake

[Business of Supply, December 10th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I will note at the outset that I will be sharing my time with the member for Brant.

Trade and investment both into and out of Canada are critical components of a prosperous Canadian economy. Thanks to our government, Canada has one of the most inviting investment climates in the world. We are committed to encouraging market-based foreign investment that benefits Canadians by attracting the capital, technology and access to global opportunities that will help our businesses grow and remain competitive.

As of 2011, investments by Canadian firms outside of Canada reached $685 billion, while foreign investment into the country reached $608 billion. Foreign investors are clearly interested in the strong and stable Canadian economy that our government is committed to sustaining.

Last Friday the Prime Minister made an important statement clarifying how the government will approach foreign investment decisions under the Investment Canada Act, or ICA, in the future. The Prime Minister indicated that it is important for Canadians and foreign investors to understand that the recent investment decisions are not the beginning of a trend but rather the end of a trend.

The dynamics of the global economy have shifted significantly over the last several years and the government has responded by clarifying the investment review regime. Foreign investment to and from emerging markets, particularly in Asia, is rapidly increasing across the world. For example, over the last decade foreign investment from Asia to Canada more than doubled. To maximize the benefits of changing global trade and investment flows, the government is clarifying how it plans to leverage Canada's existing foreign investment review framework to address such emerging economic realities.

The changing global investment landscape has seen a surge of economic activity from state-owned enterprises, or SOEs, across international borders. SOEs are entities that are owned, controlled or influenced, both directly and indirectly, by a foreign government. They therefore do not respond only to market signals the way private enterprises do.

In Canada, inward foreign SOE investment has grown from a nominal amount to over 20% of transactions subject to Investment Canada Act review. The nature of foreign SOE investment in Canada has also begun to change to one that aims to acquire majority control over Canadian businesses, particularly in the oil sands. The Canadian oil sands represent fully 60% of the global reserves of crude oil not already directly controlled by governments and their SOEs. With that comes a responsibility to sustain balanced ownership of this critical resource.

As Canada's oil sands are controlled by a comparatively small number of private sector businesses, the question of ownership and control becomes more critical, and the potential for foreign states to gain control of an entire industrial sector is significant. As a result, going forward, investments by foreign SOEs to acquire control of a Canadian oil sands business would only be found to be likely to be of net benefit to Canada on an exceptional basis.

Canadians are rightly concerned by efforts of foreign governments to control increasing portions of our economy. That is why the Minister of Industry will closely monitor and scrutinize all proposals by foreign state-owned enterprises to acquire Canadian businesses across the rest of the economy. That is why our government is addressing the issue of proposed acquisitions of control of Canadian businesses by foreign SOEs. The issue really is acquisitions of control, rather than minority investments or joint ventures. This is true of the oil sands, of the natural resources sector and of the entire Canadian economy.

Our government has not only clarified the ICA net benefit review process, but also issued revised guidelines for foreign SOE investors. The state-owned enterprise guidelines have been revised to clarify how the Investment Canada Act applies when an investment under net benefit review is being proposed by an investor that is owned, controlled or influenced by a foreign state.

The guidelines outline the government's commitment to ensure that the governance and commercial orientation of foreign state-owned enterprises are considered in determining whether acquisitions of control in Canada by the SOE are of net benefit to Canada. The guidelines also emphasize the importance of free market principles and the impact of the investment on employment, production and capital levels in Canada.

Finally, the guidelines stress that foreign state-owned enterprises must demonstrate that an investment will make a positive contribution to the productivity and industrial efficiency of a Canadian business. In addition to these clarifications to the SOE guidelines, our government will also be amending the Investment Canada Act to allow for the extension of the timelines related to the national security review process, which our government introduced in 2009.

National security is of fundamental importance and these amendments will give the government the time it needs to conduct careful and thorough reviews of complex proposed investments that could be injurious to national security.

The final clarification that the Prime Minister outlined in his statement on Canada's foreign investment framework is that the government will be proceeding with the progressive liberalization of the ICA net benefit review threshold to $1 billion in enterprise value over the next four years for private sector investors. However, the Prime Minister also stressed that the existing threshold level of $330 million in asset value would remain in place for foreign SOE investments.

These positions align with the government's openness to market-based foreign investment while at the same time closely scrutinizing foreign SOE investment across the Canadian economy.

By clarifying how the government will be using Canada's foreign investment review framework to advance the long-term prosperity of Canadians, we have stressed that we will maintain an open market-based approach to foreign investment in Canada, and that we will exercise a level of scrutiny of proposed transactions that is appropriate to the evolving economic and security context.

[International Cooperation, December 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear. The misleading information that the hon. member is referring to was information provided at a previous committee hearing by independent expert public servants, the very people this member purports to represent in his riding.

We paid attention to those experts, and we also heard testimony that talked about the real measures the government is taking that are having an impact on people in the developing world.

Back in 2002 we had 300,000 people receiving treatment for HIV-AIDS. Today we have more than eight million people. We will continue to focus on measures that are actually working.

[International Cooperation, December 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, our government is addressing the real public health challenges in the developing world.

That is why we have invested $2.85 billion toward maternal, newborn and child health, including the $1.1 billion Muskoka initiative led by our Prime Minister, which secured the participation of the G8 countries toward a $10 billion fund. We are achieving concrete results. Nearly 25 times more people are receiving HIV-AIDS treatment than were receiving it 10 years ago.

This government will continue to focus on the measures that actually work for people in the developing world.

[Foreign Investment, December 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, again, what this government will promise is that we will evaluate proposed transactions according to the provisions of the Investment Canada Act. Section 20 of the Investment Canada Act clearly lays out the criteria for net benefit. When the government makes the decision, it will be made in the net interest of Canadians.

[Foreign Investment, December 7th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, what we see day after day in this place is the two opposition parties taking very extreme positions on investment in Canada. The Liberal Party day after day would just rubber-stamp every transaction as it did when it was government. The NDP opposes every transaction.

This government will responsibly look at the Investment Canada Act and evaluate proposed transactions to the net benefit of Canadians.

[Privacy, December 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the government did have this legislation before the House when the member's party forced an election about a year and a half ago.

This government has already taken steps to address the serious privacy concerns of Canadians. Notably, we have introduced amendments to the Personal Information, Protection and Electronic Documents Act contained in Bill C-12 that would empower and protect consumers by requiring organizations to inform the Privacy Commissioner and individuals when their personal information has been disclosed as a result of a data breach. These amendments would also clarify and streamline rules for business.

Protecting privacy is good for Canadians, good for business and it fosters trust and confidence in the online marketplace.

I trust I can count on the opposition member's support of Bill C-12.

[Privacy, December 5th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to respond to comments made earlier by the hon. member about Canadian privacy laws.

The government takes the privacy of Canadians very seriously. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, or PIPEDA, is Canada's private sector privacy law. It is a good piece of legislation and has stood the test of time. However, some tweaks are needed. To that end, we have introduced amendments to PIPEDA. The amendments, which are contained in Bill C-12, will introduce new requirements for organizations to report data breaches to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and to notify affected individuals when the breaches are deemed to pose a significant risk of harm, such as identity theft or fraud.

However, that is not all. These amendments will further protect the personal information of minors, by requiring organizations to consider the ability of their target audience to comprehend the consequences of sharing their personal information.

Bill C-12 is currently at second reading and, once done, will be headed to committee. I hope we can count on the support of opposition members in ushering in these important amendments to update Canada's private sector privacy law.

I would also like to add that there will be an opportunity to update PIPEDA during the second parliamentary review. While the timing of the review has yet to be determined, I can assure the opposition member that the committee undertaking the review will have an opportunity to examine the legislation, call witnesses and to consider making further amendments.

As I stated earlier, the privacy of Canadians is a matter that the government takes very seriously. I hope we can count on support from all members, including the member opposite, on the passage of Bill C-12.

[Patent Act, November 21st, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill C-398, An Act to amend the Patent Act (drugs for international humanitarian purposes), which would amend Canada's access to medicines regime. In considering how I will vote on this bill and my approach moving forward, I will be clear that no one is more to the front my mind than the people in the developing world who need drugs and help.

While the spirit and intentions of this bill are laudable, the proposed amendments would not achieve their intended effects and would prove costly to our economy and damage our credibility in the world. The case for Bill C-398 rests on a few basic myths.

The first myth is that the Canadian access to medicines regime does not work. In fact, Canada is the only country in the world to have used this kind of regime to export medicines. In 2007, it took the Canadian government only 15 days to issue a licence, resulting in the shipment of nearly 16 million tablets to Rwanda for the treatment of HIV-AIDS.

A second myth is that Bill C-398 will save lives. This bill would in fact do nothing to save lives or deliver a larger quantity of essential medicines to developing countries in need. Rather, Canada's approach in funding medicines for those who need them most is saving lives and will continue to do so.

These amendments will not change the economics of drug supply. Less costly alternatives will always be available from emerging markets. Canada is not and will never be a low-cost producer, such as India or other emerging economies. India supplies over 80% of donor-funded antiretrovirals to developing countries.

This is not only about one country. Brazil, Thailand and South Africa also produce a significant amount of affordable medicines. We should not be surprised that even after CAMR was requested and used successfully to send medicines to Rwanda, that country soon found a more affordable alternative source in India.

The bill also ignores what the World Health Organization's panel of independent medical experts from the developed and developing world have said. Over 98% of the medicines on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines are either generic or not patent protected in the developing world.

Developing countries are telling us that patent protection is not the issue. Despite some improvements in public health, the real challenge facing them is a lack of resources, which is yet another reason they always go for the most affordable source, which will always be the emerging markets.

Canada is addressing the real issue of resources by delivering aid to fight serious public health problems, such as HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Our government's plan to fight disease and deprivation is delivering results through our leadership on key global initiatives. Canada has been a leader in supporting the global fund to fight HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. This fund has become one of the most important instruments for countries in need to access lower cost medicines. In 2010, our government pledged $540 million to the global fund, bringing Canada's total commitment to more than $1.4 billion.

Through the global fund, 3.6 million people living with HIV-AIDS currently receive treatment and 1.5 million HIV positive pregnant women receive treatment to prevent mother to child transmission. According to the global fund, Canada is the top contributor on a per capita basis.

Canada has also pledged $149.6 million to the Stop TB Partnership's global drug facility to procure quality assured anti-tuberculosis drugs. Since shipments began in 2009, the number of people receiving modern TB treatment has increased from 32% to 61% of estimated sufferers.

We have pledged $450 million over 10 years to the Africa health systems initiative towards strengthening health systems to ensure that facilities and expertise are in place to make effective use of the medicines we deliver.

Canada has also provided $2.85 billion to champion the Muskoka initiative on maternal, newborn and child health. Through the Muskoka initiative, Canada has taken action to support the provision of medicines, vaccines and the other actions needed to prevent and treat diseases that are the main causes of maternal and child mortality. In Afghanistan, we have trained more than 1,455 health workers. In Mozambique, we have increased the number of women giving birth in health facilities to 64%. In Tanzania, we have provided primary health care services to more than 43 million people.

These and other Canadian-led efforts are yielding positive outcomes. According to the joint United Nations program on HIV-AIDS and the World Health Organization, an estimated 8 million people living with HIV in low and middle-income countries were receiving antiretroviral therapy at the end of 2011. That is a 25-fold increase over the last decade, and I do not want that number to be skipped over.

According to the World Health Organization, the number of people receiving proper treatment for tuberculosis has almost quadrupled, from 1.9 million in 2000 to 7.7 million in 2010, and the incidence rates are declining worldwide.

We have a proven track record and we will not rest while millions suffer in the developing world.

A third myth is that Bill C-398 would comply with our international obligations. However, it would clearly remove the central protections in our laws. Canadian jobs are at stake as we become less attractive for trade and innovation and lose access to vital international research partnerships that lead to the development of lifesaving medicines in Canada.

The bill would remove the notification requirement, the quantity requirement on licence when issued, the requirement to name the recipient country and application and the eligibility requirements for countries that could use CAMR. All of these would violate our international obligations. There is even a risk of diversion of medicines into the wrong hands rather than go to people in countries who truly need them.

Bill C-398 would also have unintended consequences of creating delays in shipments by introducing more discretion into the regime. Currently, if an application, one, identifies a listed drug and country, two, includes the WTO notification and three, provides information about the relevant patents, the Commissioner of Patents has no choice but to grant the licences. The proposals in Bill C-398 would require the commissioner to exercise discretion regarding eligibility. This could introduce delay and an opportunity for patent holders to challenge the licence in court. Why would we add red tape to the system?

Canada's approach is addressing the real problem by leading global initiatives to provide medicines against HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria for those in need. The bill would not deliver more lifesaving medicines. Instead, it would harm our economy and our trade and research partnerships.

It is for these reasons that I urge all hon. members of Parliament not to support Bill C-398, but instead to focus on the many things that Canada is doing that are making a real impact on the lives of the people around the world who most need it.

[Science and Technology, October 24th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, guided by the 2007 science and technology strategy, our government has been systematically enhancing federal support for world-class research and building on Canada's knowledge advantage. We have consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting science and technology and building a sophisticated knowledge-based economy by providing significant resources to support leading-edge research and research facilities.

Our government is committed to supporting curiosity-driven research, an essential foundation for a vibrant research innovation system. Through economic action plan 2012, this government has preserved core programs funding basic research.

As I mentioned earlier, the measures that this government has put in place, along with our efforts to support business innovation, demonstrate this government's priority in supporting Canada's world-class science, technology and innovation system.

[Science and Technology, October 24th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, our government has consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to science and technology with over $8 billion in new funding since 2006. We have built a sophisticated, knowledge-based economy by providing significant resources to support leading-edge research and research facilities.

Guided by the 2007 science and technology strategy, we have been systematically enhancing federal support for world-class research and building on Canada's knowledge advantage. Our government remains committed to supporting curiosity-driven research, an essential foundation for a vibrant innovation system. Through economic action plan 2012, this government has preserved core programs funding basic research.

Canada's economic action plan 2012 builds on our accomplishments. It proposes significant new resources to support leading-edge basic research and infrastructure through investments that strengthen Canada's position in the world as a leading supporter of research. Budget 2012 provides $341 million over two years to support research, education and training. In total, federal government spending on science and technology for fiscal year 2011-12 is expected to exceed $11 billion.

This ongoing support from the Government of Canada for advanced research has contributed to a strong innovation system in this country. It has ensured Canadian researchers can continue to generate groundbreaking ideas. It has given businesses access to ideas and people and provided them with the resources needed to bring this knowledge to market and create high-quality jobs.

We have continued to support large-scale research in genomics. In budget 2012, our government announced an additional $60 million for Genome Canada, helping continue to support research excellence. Since 2000, we have also invested more than $1 billion to ensure Canada remains at the forefront of this important field, supporting amazing breakthroughs in health and other sectors of the economy.

Moreover, we are committed to building a strong and vibrant research environment and providing significant support for leading-edge research infrastructure. Economic action plan 2012 provides sustained support for investments in advanced research infrastructure by committing an additional $500 million over five years to the Canada Foundation for Innovation starting in 2014-15. To date, our government has allocated $5.5 billion to the foundation, which has committed support to more than 7,300 projects at 130 research institutions.

I should also note that our government also provided, through budget 2009, $2 billion for research and advanced learning infrastructure at universities, colleges and CEGEPs through the knowledge infrastructure program. This funding not only helped create jobs across the country when it was needed the most, but it also helped leverage an additional $3 billion in contributions from the provinces, territories and private partners. It has helped attract and retain the best minds in the world and train the highly-skilled workers of tomorrow. In fact, the most recent report from the Council of Canadian Academies concluded that Canada's S and T enterprise is healthy, growing, internationally competitive and very well respected among the world's leading scientists.

In addition, economic action plan 2012 delivers $67 million in 2012-13 to support the NRC in refocusing its efforts toward business-driven, industry relevant applied research that will help Canadian businesses develop innovative products and services.

Taken cumulatively, these measures, along with our efforts to support business innovation, demonstrate this government's priority in supporting Canada's world-class science, technology and innovation system.