Government Operations committee  At this point we're having further conversations with companies that are interested in establishing—

Government Operations committee  Going back to my discussion of the early point in March when we were looking for opportunities to expand domestic production with a number of companies, obviously the deal with Medicom went forward because they were able to meet the time frames, were interested in establishing a domestic presence—

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's one industrial base. There are companies that we at the federal level and the provinces would have an interest in partnering with. We appreciate the point and the need to coordinate, given that we're both drawing on the same industrial base and the same goal.

Government Operations committee  It's obviously very important that this be up and running in Canada. We know the company is working to meet the commitments it has made to the Government of Canada for supply. We would hope that very soon, I would say in the summer period, it would be up and running and beginning manufacture in Canada.

Government Operations committee  As a high-level answer, in terms of capital and equipment, I think the constraints are less daunting. In the area of raw material, this is where you can follow a supply chain all the way up and find that you have to go outside of Canada for certain critical components, particularly chemical components or elements of different products that are required.

Government Operations committee  It is an important policy goal. For Canada, in many areas, I think we'll be extending our ability to manufacture and supply for our own needs. However, we are also a country that wants to supply goods and services to other countries, wants to engage in trade and wants to benefit from global markets, so of course there will always be a balance between supply chains where we depend on other countries that specialize in specific areas, and they connect and co-operate with us.

Government Operations committee  That's an important point. Many of our most innovative companies are small companies. We are a country of small enterprise and very innovative small enterprise. One specific area is filter material for masks. We have a number of companies we're going to be working with, very small businesses that have innovative answers and want to bring those answers forward.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, I'll ask my colleague Mark Schaan to answer that question, since that is his area of responsibility in the department.

Government Operations committee  I would say that the direction of our department is to build the Canadian economy. Our efforts, the work that we do with the private sector, the programs of support and the policy support that we provide are intended to build up our industrial base. It's heartening to see how our industrial base has responded and made it possible for us to find Canadian solutions in a challenging time when it's absolutely necessary that we bring these forward, because the entire world is of course pursuing the same products, services and solutions.

Government Operations committee  Thank you for the question and the interest in the industry strategy council, which will provide, in short order, advice and guidance to the government on the restart, coming up with very concrete proposals in our sectors to get our economy moving again as we emerge from the crisis.

Government Operations committee  We have had a number of discussions with the chair recently. The full membership was announced, and they will be meeting in a short number of days. In fact, we expect that they will be meeting on a regular basis to provide advice in an accelerated time frame to the government. The chair has been very active in her own regard, building networks, support, advice and counsel for her work.

Government Operations committee  I would say there are three phases of work or analysis that we think the committee would obviously pursue, but I don't want to be presumptuous as to how they would wish to carry out their mandate. Obviously, they have to turn to the situations in our sectors as they stand now, and each of them is facing very unique challenges and pressures.

Government Operations committee  I would of course suggest that some of the work to establish the council had been under way, in that the economic strategy tables were an ongoing program in the government at the onset of COVID-19. It was something we were already working on with our minister, and we were working to establish the chairs of the various economic strategy tables.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, in answering the question, I'll be very humble in that I wouldn't wish to extend my expertise in terms of Canada's overall capacity and capability to respond and to make all the policy and implementation decisions to respond to the virus. Our task in ISED was to mobilize our industry, our research and our companies to be able to respond and create a made-in-Canada response.

Government Operations committee  I would say that it was identified at the earliest stage that these industrial support programs and research and development programs would be key tools to mobilize Canada to respond to COVID. In fact, I would highlight the support that we've been able to generate through the innovation superclusters across Canada, which have now dedicated some $55 million to a variety of projects that are very critical in terms of meeting the needs for critical equipment and also to develop solutions to the challenges that we're now facing.