Sergeant-at-Arms, would you escort the witnesses in, please?

Mr. Minister, for the record, could you introduce your witnesses, please?

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. When we left off yesterday, we were on general comments and Mr. Bell was on the list. Mr. Bell.

General Comments

Thank you. I did have a couple of questions about the Minister's comments, specifically I'll start with the Business Credit Corporation. I recently wrote the Minister a letter. In that letter I asked him some questions about the overall lending policies of the BCC, really of this government. I wanted to ask him about the BCC's lending portfolio and how it weighs various sectors. My understanding is proposals come forward to regional RWED staff and are evaluated sort of on their merits. If they get the go-ahead, they're passed on up -- if they're of the right amount of money -- to the BCC. At some point either the board deals with it if it's a big enough loan, or it's dealt with strictly by staff if it's a smaller loan. I'm wondering if the Minister can tell me, after this risk analysis is done, is there still some chance that it gets the go-ahead from the RWED staff that the BCC will not agree not so much with that evaluation, but I think after considering how their overall lending portfolio looks, they may determine that they're over weighed in the hotel industry, for instance, or an airport or in airplanes or something like this. So a good proposal might come forward, but it just might be the case that the BCC feels it's too heavily exposed to a certain sector. Is that the case? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Bell.

Okay, thank you. That's the kind of information I was looking for. So in a situation where I may approach a charter bank with a business plan and say I'm looking for a loan in the hospitality sector, it could be the case that the bank might say to me well, this loan looks to be a safe loan, this looks to be a good business plan, but the truth of the matter is we're just not handing out any more hospitality loans because we're overweight in that sector for the next couple of years. It appears that we don't treat it in the same manner as charter banks in that regard.

I would like to ask a question about the ability of the RWED staff who have initially evaluated the loan to advocate for that application in front of the BCC. Does that happen? Does somebody from the regional RWED staff who have initially seen the loan, do they go forward and sort of make the case as to why it has been passed up to the BCC level?

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Bell.

Thank you. I'd like to thank the Minister and the deputy for that answer. I think that's the kind of client focus that government needs to show, and I'm glad to see that that is going on. I think at times we tend to be too rigid and too stuck to policies, but it appears here that we're being flexible in order to try to meet the requirement for time limits on the part of applicants. So I do appreciate that.

Let me ask about whether or not there's a specific sector considered, that being manufacturing. There is some discussion on manufacturing in one of the last paragraphs in the Minister's opening comments. I'm wondering if at the BCC level there are any priority areas, whether it be loans, grant monies, contributions that are targeted exclusively for manufacturing or value-added sectors; or, if they aren't specifically targeted that way, whether or not manufacturers would have some sort of advantage if they make the case that they're import replacing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Mr. Bell.

Thank you. I'm certainly glad to hear that, as well. I think it's important that we focus where we can, despite the fact that we do have limited markets to a large degree. Where there are businesses that appear to be viable and could engage in important replacing, I think it's important to support them.

Let me just ask the Minister, he indicates that there is going to be the development and implementation of a strategy to support and encourage growth in this sector. Can the Minister give me some sort of indication when we might see a strategy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Mr. Bell.