44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 17, 2023 10:00AM
Mr. Speaker, getting into the substance of Bill C-34, this is an important topic. I do not know whether this legislation really crosses into being an important piece of legislation. Unfortunately, it is another half measure, a poorly drafted piece of legislation. It is going in the right direction, there is no doubt, but I want to give a little context before we break into a piece-by-piece discussion of Bill C-34. I will give a bit of a historical reference.
When we look back over thousands of years, the nations, peoples and countries that innovate the best end up having the most prosperity. They are the ones that drive the world forward. If we look at the Roman Empire, it dominated the world and was a leader in innovation in that era. If we look back to the Industrial Revolution, we saw the prosperity of humanity grow exponentially during that time because of innovation. If we look at the digital revolution, the countries that will dominate are those that take hold of the new world we are entering. They are the ones that will see new levels of prosperity.
Unfortunately, as innovation continues to go forward, Canada seems not to. We see that innovation is growing exponentially. This is not a linear chart; things are going faster and faster. Indeed, when we look forward to technologies such as artificial intelligence, bioscience and big data, these things will have a real impact on our lives. I strongly suggest that the world of my children is going to be a lot different than the world I grew up in, and their children will inherit a much different world.
As the pace of change continues to grow exponentially, governments have to be more agile and quicker to respond than ever. As Elon Musk commented recently, many of these technologies can have tremendous power for good, but they can also pose substantial challenges to our societies and governments. That is why we need a government that is willing to be agile.
For Canada to prosper, we must have a government that is starting to lead the way with respect to innovation and technology. Unfortunately, the government, as we have seen, seems challenged to even keep the lights on, much less to innovate and move forward. As we look forward, we see that the empirical data is coming back over the last eight years of government, and the numbers are not pretty.
Canada has traditionally been a leader in innovation and productivity, yet we are falling further and further behind. We are currently ranked sixth out of the seven G7 countries. That is nearly last in the G7 when it comes to intellectual property. Intellectual property will be the driver of our future economy. It will drive our future of prosperity. It is what manufacturing was to the 1950s and 1960s. It is what agriculture was to the many centuries before. Those who are able to prosper in that area, to conquer the area of intellectual property, will be the ones who win the future.
Canada currently ranks 24th overall with respect to knowledge and technology, which are measured by patents generated. We used to be in the top 10 in that area and we are falling further and further behind.
Canada's issue is not with respect to basic research. We are recognized around the world as being one of the best idea generators in the entire world. We have some of the brightest minds. We have a wonderful diversity of opinion that no doubt comes from our diverse and great population. We have wonderful post-secondary education. We have many different great think tanks and institutions that generate these wonderful ideas.
Indeed, our ideas are generating prosperity. The challenge is that they are generating prosperity in countries other than ours. What is happening is that we are generating these great ideas and, being the generous Canadians we are, we are giving them to the world.
The problem is that they are taking those ideas and selling them back at a profit. Although Canadians are doing a lot of the hard work in coming up with the great ideas that are leading this world and lifting people into prosperity, Canadians are not getting the benefit from that.
Whether it is from sheer incompetence, naïveté or worse, the government does not seem to understand the world we are in today. It does not understand the world of aggressive trade action and of state-owned enterprises. Companies and states around this world, authoritarian regimes, are utilizing Canada's generosity to put themselves ahead of Canadians.
This is not, and we heard this from other colleagues, really a partisan issue. There are people raising the red flags from across the political spectrum. Jack Mintz, a noted economist and free marketeer, is talking about this as an issue, as is Jim Balsillie, founder of BlackBerry and noted expert on intellectual property.
We also have that “random Liberal”. That has to hurt Bill Morneau, right? One day I will be out of this place and I just hope that the next prime minister, Pierre Poilievre, never refers to me—
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- Feb/17/23 10:52:16 a.m.
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There is a point of order from the hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.
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Mr. Speaker, the member might need to leave sooner than he thought, by resigning, after he just said the first and last names of the Leader of the Opposition. Perhaps the Speaker would like to weigh in on this.
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- Feb/17/23 10:52:33 a.m.
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I will remind members that we cannot refer to members of the House of Commons by their proper names and that we need to go by riding names. I suggest the member should retract that and use the correct terminology.
The hon. member Northumberland—Peterborough South has the floor.
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Mr. Speaker, I will apologize and not resign. I am glad I gave the member for Kingston and the Islands something to do today. I am pleased to have accomplished that today.
Like I said, it has to hurt Bill Morneau to be referred to as a random Liberal. I certainly hope the next Prime Minister of Canada does not refer to me, or any member of our caucus, as a random Conservative, or worse, a random Liberal, I suppose.
When I get into the substance of Bill C-34, the challenge is not directional. Directionally, it is on the right path. The government is trying to at least take the steps it needs to in order to protect domestic assets, corporations and intellectual property from foreign actors.
The challenge is that it is not particularly well drafted, at least in my opinion and in the opinions of many other experts, and that it does not go far enough. We heard my colleagues talk specifically about some things that should be in there. For the record, I will reiterate what they said.
First, we need to have not only sales of shares but also sales of assets. One can buy the actual corporation, which is buying the vessel, but one can also buy everything within that vessel. There are many different ways smart lawyers and accountants can avoid that, and this legislation is not smart enough, at least not yet, to catch those.
We need to have automatic triggers, regardless of the amounts of sales, in certain sectors and also with respect to certain state-owned enterprises.
While Conservatives acknowledge this is a step in the right direction, we are very hopeful we can have a robust conversation in committee and improve Bill C-34, because it certainly needs it.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague who also sits on the Standing Committee on Finance.
I would first like to comment on the point of order. I want to quote a line from a French movie, a Christmas classic: “I am not blaming you, Pierre”.
This bill is a step in the right direction, but it does not go far enough. That is how I see it.
I would like to ask my colleague to explain once more what the government should do to improve the bill and enhance what is being proposed.
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Mr. Speaker, I very much enjoyed working with the fine member from the Bloc Québécois at the finance committee. I am confident we will work with the members of the Bloc to include things like automatic triggers for reviews by cabinet and for reducing the ability of actors to avoid this through things like asset sales and otherwise.
We need to tighten up potential loopholes in this legislation to make sure we can fully protect Canadian companies, resources and ideas.
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Mr. Speaker, I am just looking for a comment from the member. Why should we believe the Liberals would even use these new powers, after eight years of inability to recognize national security risks?
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Mr. Speaker, I am not sure it is a great thing that I speak on behalf of the government. What I would say is that there are many different fields where the government could have acted, including perhaps reviewing past applications and transactions. That simply has not been done in many cases and should have been. Divestitures should have happened with respect to state-owned enterprises. Even with regard to other issues, such as passports or putting in place Magnitsky sanctions on human rights, the government cannot seem to get out of its own way.
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Mr. Speaker, I listen to my colleague's discussion on Bill C-34, and I cannot help but think of some of the incredible investments we have seen just recently in a neighbouring area to where our ridings are. In particular, in Hastings—Lennox and Addington, I think of the incredible work the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry did in attracting Umicore, a multi-billion dollar operation to build electric vehicle batteries right in a neighbouring riding to both of ours.
Would he not agree that the types of investments we can see through the modernization of this act would continue to benefit not just our ridings but Canada as a whole?
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Mr. Speaker, it is a joy to be a neighbour of the member for Kingston and the Islands. That probably ends my career with the Conservative Party, but there we go.
What I would say to him, in all seriousness, is that that is a great exception. It unfortunately proves the rule that Canada continues to be a laggard in the G7 and the OECD when it comes to productivity and innovation.
While I certainly welcome the manufacturing jobs, it would be even better to get the research and development, as well as the heads of these companies, right here in Canada so that we would not be just a secondary manufacturer or resource economy but actually have a controlling interest and prosper from our own ideas.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a question about foreign corporations and state-owned corporations funding research chairs at our world-class leading universities and, at the end of the process, being the owners of the intellectual property that has been produced by Canadian brain power.
Does he think there should be controls or regulations around that? Does Bill C-34 address that?
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Mr. Speaker, we have to acknowledge the world that we live in today, not the world we lived in 20 years ago. There are challenging actors out there who are trying to take Canadian ideas and utilize them for their own prosperity.
We must control our ideas. We have to be straightforward with it but cannot back away from the ideas. Canadian ideas are Canadian, and they are there for Canadian prosperity.
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- Feb/17/23 11:00:19 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services is the greatest cause of women's disability, disease and death globally. It was declared a human right in 1995, at the UN conference on women in Beijing, but it is still an elusive sustainable development goal.
Recent WHO data shows that 200 million women lack access to contraception, 300,000 still die each year in childbirth, and 25 million have to use unsafe abortion. In addition, 250 million people still get STDs. Girls continue to face forced early marriage and female genital mutilation. Moreover, although rape is a tactic of war, most women in conflict zones have no access to safe abortions.
Canada is a global leader in SHRH international aid, but every parliamentarian here should advocate for universal access to SHRH to support the world's girls and women.
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- Feb/17/23 11:01:22 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, February 22 is Pink Shirt Day, also known as antibullying day.
Bullying is a major problem in schools, in workplaces, in homes and online. Pink Shirt Day aims to raise awareness of these issues, as well as supporting programs that foster children's healthy self-esteem.
Bullying has no place in our community and is something that no one should ever have to experience. Strong people stand up for themselves, but the strongest people stand up for others. This Pink Shirt Day, let us get together, wear pink and stand up against bullying.
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- Feb/17/23 11:02:16 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today I am honoured to recognize Chris Weins and his grade 7 class at École Module Vanier in my riding of Kingston and the Islands.
Earlier this week, on Valentine’s Day, his class put together 18 handmade valentine gift baskets and delivered them to patients in the pediatric ward of Kingston General Hospital.
This is the second year that Chris Weins’ class has prepared Valentine’s Day gift baskets for children who are in the hospital and unable to celebrate the day in school with their friends. One student in the class reflected on their experience of once being in hospital, how it can be a very scary experience and how a simple gesture like this could make somebody’s day a little better.
I would like to thank Mr. Weins and all the students in his grade 7 class at École Module Vanier for their act of kindness this Valentine’s Day and for making that day a bit better for the children in the pediatric ward at Kingston General Hospital.
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- Feb/17/23 11:03:15 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, each year on February 14, family members, survivors and allies gather to honour missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and 2S+ people.
This Valentine's Day marked the 32nd annual memorial march. It has been over three years since the final report on the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls inquiry was tabled.
As another year passes, the crisis facing the missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and 2S+ community is more urgent than ever. Shamefully, little action has been taken to implement the 231 calls for justice. Despite years of promises, there is still no “for indigenous, by indigenous” northern, rural and urban housing strategy. None of the $420 million announced in 2020 to build transitional housing and shelters in response to the national inquiry has rolled out. The inaction is costing lives.
I am so sad that I was not able to attend the march on Tuesday; I was in Ottawa grilling the Minister of Housing about the Liberals' inaction on the housing crisis. As always, I remain committed to holding the government accountable in the fight for justice for all indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people.
The genocide must end. Indigenous women and girls cannot afford to wait for another year to pass by.
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- Feb/17/23 11:04:46 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Nelnah Bessie John School is a school of just five students. It is located in remote Yukon on the traditional territory of the White River First Nation, part of Canada’s most westerly community.
The five students of the school have a deep love for hockey, so they turned to social media to raise funds to see their first-ever NHL game live and in person. I am proud to share that these students raised enough money to travel to my riding of Kanata—Carleton to watch the Ottawa Senators take on the Calgary Flames, and what a game it was. The Senators won in overtime in an unforgettable game. They went above and beyond, paying for the students' tickets, donating a jersey for each student and introducing the students to some of the players after the game. It was a dream come true.
I give my thanks to the Ottawa Senators and all involved for making these students’ first NHL game experience truly remarkable.
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- Feb/17/23 11:05:54 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, every day I receive countless messages from constituents saying that they cannot afford this government's tax-and-spend agenda, which has burdened Canadian families with the worst affordability crisis they have ever seen. Canadians are also concerned about the increase in rural crime, thanks to this government's soft-on-crime policies, as well as massive backlogs in immigration that contribute to a shortage of workers.
Despite the challenges and the negativity we have been facing, I would like to take this opportunity for us to refocus and remind ourselves of what truly matters in life: our families.
This coming Monday is Family Day, a day to take the time to be with the ones we love, cherish them and remember how priceless they are to us. However we choose to spend Family Day, it is important to remember: It is not about what we are doing; it is all about spending the day with family.
I wish everyone a happy Family Day.
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- Feb/17/23 11:06:55 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, each February, my community of Windsor—Essex organizes a celebration of Black History Month that rivals any in the country, with close to 50 events to celebrate one of the oldest and most dynamic Black communities in Canada.
We can step into Sandwich First Baptist Church, the oldest active Black church in Canada; trace the steps of American slaves crossing to freedom at the Amherstburg Freedom Museum; listen to the Windsor Symphony Orchestra celebrate Black voices and Oscar Peterson; honour Windsor's connection to the famed No. 2 Construction Battalion; walk the McDougall Street Corridor, where Black culture and commerce thrive; join the Black, Indigenous and Workers of Colour Conference at Unifor Local 444; listen to Giller Prize-winning author Suzette Mayr at Biblioasis; support local Black businesses with the Buy Black 28-day challenge, and learn about innovators like engineer Cornelius Henderson, who helped build the Ambassador Bridge.
I wish a happy Black History Month to all back home.
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