Industry committee  I'll respond to the question you just asked very quickly. I'm very skeptical, and I've talked before and certainly in my classes for a long time of this idea of strategic industries. Michael Porter has written about this, and I think he's criticized it quite extensively, as have

Industry committee  I'll be very quick. I have to respectfully disagree with Dr. Leblond. I agree on the national security side—I'm not going to go there—but when I hear that you want to start looking now at the protection of Canadian IP and at the competitiveness, however you're going to measure t

Industry committee  I haven't looked at CFIUS, but I want to respond in a slightly different way because of the way I've been teaching the strategy course for some 30 years. I've increasingly turned away from theory. I'm not putting down theory. Theory is very important, but I'm increasingly evidenc

Industry committee  That will certainly make it more transparent but less flexible at the same time. I agree with what you just said, but I think it will be more rigid. Again, you know how long it takes to slow down to amend a bill. It can take years. It will certainly introduce a further rigidity i

Industry committee  I don't think it's a good idea to politicize these decisions. That's what we see in developing countries, like Argentina. I'm not going to use real basket case examples, but we see it in countries that have struggled in the last few years to be competitive and to attract foreign

Industry committee  That's right. We have to make that sharp distinction that I referenced in my notes. I think there are almost two animals in this bill. One's talking about national security, which is really important—and others will talk about that—and we're talking about really wanting to put b

Industry committee  Thank you for inviting me. My disclosures are that I don't donate to or belong to any political party of any kind. I don't consult with any foreign or domestic corporations, and I have no investments in any corporations of any kind. Please note, I received the invitation less t

Agriculture committee  I've only looked at the U.S., but I've certainly looked a lot at the U.S. I'm talking grocery retailing. It's a very popular industry to study in strategy classes with students—that and airlines. In terms of profit margins, I'm talking percentages. We're not talking dollars, bec

Agriculture committee  I haven't studied vertical integration and its consequences in the food industry, but I've certainly studied it. In fact, I teach it. I just did my class on this. With vertical integration in major economies—mostly in the States—the trend is towards de-integration because of ma

Agriculture committee  Yes. I have dealt with this question in my classes, as you can imagine. I don't think you should be regulating that. If we want to drive down prices, we know the answer. We've known it for 300 years. You introduce more competition. More firms drive down prices. A smaller number o

Agriculture committee  Well, remember that all publicly traded companies, meaning those listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange or the New York Nasdaq, are required by law—and have been for decades—to disclose and provide audited public statements to the public. I was on there this morning and looking a

Agriculture committee  I'm not sure. The Competition Bureau looks to determine if an industry is too concentrated as opposed to fragmented. Those are the two terms. A fragmented industry is where you have many competitors. With regard to the grocery industry—and I just looked up that data again this mo

Agriculture committee  Well, actually, I don't. For 35 years I've taught what Michael Porter believes and Joseph Schumpeter believed, which is that firms do not exist to make profit. They do not exist to maximize shareholder wealth. I've been teaching this in every course for 35 years. Firms exist to c

Agriculture committee  They're two different issues. The OECD average, of course, is the average of the different countries, and we are below the average, because there are countries above the average. I specifically cited France, the U.K. and Germany, which are significantly higher. Their cost structu

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much. I hope you can hear me now. Is that acceptable?