Health committee  Mr. Chair, I would take the question of the honourable member on advisement and return with information to the committee to answer the question. It's not an area in my responsibility, working in charge of the industry sector, that I have a direct awareness of, or information. I could provide the information and follow up with the committee.

Health committee  I am aware of a number of companies and offers from the private sector, from the non-profit sector, to assist the government, particularly in the area of supporting the use of data in contact tracing. There are actually offers that are already available through the private sector with anonymized data in that regard.

Health committee  I am in charge of the industry sector in the department. I don't have responsibility in my group for the framework legislation, for PIPEDA, for the specific matter that's been raised by the honourable member. I obviously will endeavour to take that question back to our department to ensure that it's properly addressed.

Health committee  In addition to the work I referenced in my opening comments in terms of moving Canada's industrial capacity to address the immediate needs to produce critical equipment, it's also important, obviously, that we look to when the economy is going to return and what conditions will be required.

Health committee  Mr. Chair, committee members, good afternoon. I will keep these remarks short, preserving time for your questions. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. The COVID-19 outbreak continues to evolve rapidly. In the battle against this virus, Canada’s scientists, innovators and industry are working on multiple fronts to fight the pandemic.

Finance committee  I'll provide a general response, as I think it's—

Finance committee  I would say that there's a degree of complexity in moving from a corporate income and balance sheet to determine the return on investment, which will be completely mathematical and about profit. In this case, we're talking about the overall Canadian welfare.

Finance committee  No, I would say it's a matter that's just much more empirically difficult. You don't sit with the same sort of accounting instruments and the same simple or narrow approach to answering that question. I'm not trying to say this to be provocative, but if you think about the advanced research that's undertaken, some of these things appear to be small sums, and if you just evaluate it on a dollar return to the party that's granting the funding, you're not going to find a justification for it.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, I apologize. I appreciate the question. It's straightforward, but it would be best if a finance official would provide that information. I don't have any notes on the level of unemployment at that time.

Finance committee  I would love to give a clarification.

Finance committee  The position of the department is that the funding provided for the C Series development will be repaid over time. I will make that statement. Second, Bombardier is current in respect to any repayments that it does make.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair—

Finance committee  This is a long-term endeavour. The C Series is now over—

Finance committee  There is no movement of IPO or production. It's happening in Mirabel.

Finance committee  Airbus is leading that program. We will be repaid.