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House Committee

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 8, 2024
The Chair (Mr. Joël Lightbound (Louis-Hébert, Lib.))
  • 11:04:10 a.m.
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Friends and colleagues, welcome to meeting number 116 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology. I call this meeting to order. Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the Standing Orders. Pursuant to the order of reference of Monday, April 24, 2023, the committee is resuming consideration of Bill C‑27, An Act to enact the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts. Before we start, colleagues, I would just like us to adopt the seventh report of the subcommittee on agenda and procedure of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology, the steering committee, as we call it. You've all received it, and I would seek your consent to adopt the steering committee's report. Are there any comments on the steering committee report? Apparently not. Is there unanimous consent to adopt the subcommittee's report? I'm getting nods. Wonderful. Before we begin clause‑by‑clause consideration of Bill C‑27, Mr. Vis would like to speak. Mr. Vis, we're listening.
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Mr. Brad Vis (Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, CPC)
  • 11:05:28 a.m.
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An economy with low productivity can grow only so much before inflation sets in. Economies with strong productivity have faster growth, more jobs and higher wages, and they rely less on increasing interest rates to protect against inflation. High labour productivity is also closely associated with improving living standards because it allows wages to rise without increasing inflation. Sadly the level of productivity in Canada's business sector is low. In fact, it is more or less unchanged from where it was seven years ago. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ranks Canada 29th among 38 OECD countries for labour productivity. OECD has also reported that Canada has the lowest number of manufacturing companies with more than 250 employees per one million people. Canadian companies on average use less capital and technology and are less innovative than are those of many other advanced economies. Compared to the U.S., Canada invests less than half in research and development, software, hardware and data as well as on marketing and sales. This matters because the standard of living in Canada has deteriorated compared to that in other countries. Business insolvencies in the year ending February 29, 2024, have increased nearly 60% according to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy. Month over month, Statistics Canada continues to report that more businesses are closing than are opening, and that is why I'd like to move the following motion: That, given that the Bank of Canada is warning that weak productivity and low business investment have become a national emergency; that Canada has long lagged the United States when it comes to how much the economy produces per hour of work, and that Canada has fallen behind G7 countries with only Italy seeing a larger decline of productivity relative to the United States; the lack of Canadian business investment in machinery, equipment and intellectual property; and that new Canadians are working in low-wage, low productivity jobs that don't take advantage of skill sets they possess and that this weak productivity is making the central bank's job of controlling inflation more difficult, the committee call for four meetings to be held immediately and invite the following witnesses: the Governor of the Bank of Canada; the interim chief statistician; various small and medium-sized businesses and industry representatives; and that the committee hear from these witnesses the extent of the harm to the Canadian economy and the ability to control high inflation caused by weak productivity and low investment, and from government officials what they are going to do to remedy this emergency; and report back to the House. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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