Proceedings in the

Douglas Fir Room

The House in Committee,

Section A.

The committee met at 11:28 a.m.

[Susie Chant in the chair.]

Committee of Supply

Estimates: Ministry of

Jobs and Economic Growth

(continued)

The Chair : Good morning, members. I call Committee of Supply,

Section A, to order. We are meeting

today to continue the consideration of the budget estimates of the Ministry of Jobs

and Economic Growth.

I now recognize the minister to move the vote.

Hon. Ravi Kahlon : Thank you so much, Chair. And for the record, you are my favourite Chair, so it’s

nice to have you there.

On Vote 38: ministry operations, $72,704,000 (continued) .

Teresa Wat : I hope I’m your favourite critic.

I would like to ask the minister about the B.C. international trade office network.

As of about 2020, this government eliminated all independently leased B.C. trade office

spaces. There are no stand-alone B.C. trade offices abroad.

[11:30 a.m.]

If I understand correctly, every one of B.C.’s 23 trade and investment representative

postings are now embedded inside a Canadian embassy or consulate operated by Global

Affairs Canada, a federal department.

Can the minister confirm this is accurate and tell this committee what is the total

amount B.C. is paying Global Affairs Canada to host B.C. staff in those federal buildings?

Hon. Ravi Kahlon : I know this has been canvassed by the member multiple times, but I’ll just do it again.

A decision was made to move key trade representatives in-house, working with Global

Affairs Canada, a Team Canada approach, which has actually shown really good results

for British Columbia. The budget for the offices that are in partnership within GAC,

Global Affairs Canada, is $7.2 million. That is our staff there, and they’re doing

fantastic work.

[11:35 a.m.]

In fact, they’re doing such a good job for us in those markets that we actually have

other provinces that have reached out to me to say: can they leverage the staff we

have to be helping them as well? We haven’t agreed to that, but we have offered that

we would support any province that needs support in this environment, because we want

everyone to be successful, given the challenging time we’re all dealing with.

But the $7.2 million is the number. I’m happy to answer any questions the member has.

Teresa Wat : Thank you for the figure.

Can the minister give us a breakdown of how much is paying for rent, for shared-services

charges and also for staff? Also, is there a comparison between this total cost as

compared with the former stand-alone B.C. trade offices which they were operating, I think, during the first year of the NDP government?

Hon. Ravi Kahlon : If it’s okay with the member, I’ll get my team to get the breakdown for her and maybe

give it to her in writing. It might be a more efficient use of our time.

Teresa Wat : If the minister could give us a comparison between this total amount of cost with

the previous independent trade office.

Hon. Ravi Kahlon : My team will do their best to get the numbers together for you and get it over to

you. If the member feels that there’s something else that’s needed, then I’m happy

to follow up.

Teresa Wat : Let me see whether this question is relevant. The Coastal Front investigation found that the total expenditure and staffing costs are systematically

redacted across all the 23 offices and noted that it is unclear whether records held by Global Affairs Canada fall within the scope of provincial FOI disclosure obligations or are effectively

beyond reach.

Has the minister or the ministry received legal advice on whether co-locating inside federal buildings shields B.C. trade office costs from provincial FOI? And

if those costs are indeed held in federal records, does the minister believe the public

should have to file a federal ATIP request to find out how B.C. spends provincial

tax dollars on trade promotion?

Hon. Ravi Kahlon : They would fall under our FOI rules, as regular, but with the caveat that sometimes

there’s commercially sensitive information, so they’d have to follow the same rules

around FOIs that exist for everyone else.

Teresa Wat : B.C.’s two TIR postings in the United States are embedded inside the Canadian consulate

in Seattle and the Canadian Consulate General in San Francisco — both federal facilities, of course. B.C.’s staff sits alongside

the federal trade commissioner.

[11:40 a.m.]

The United States is B.C.’s largest trading partner; 52.8 percent of our exports face

a 25 percent tariff, and B.C.’s natural gas and electricity are exclusively U.S.-bound.

What are B.C.’s embedded staff in those two federal buildings actually doing about

our tariffs? Are they conducting advocacy with U.S. state legislators, importers and

business associations, or are they continuing routine export promotion? And is there

any risk that B.C.’s provincial advocacy agenda is being constrained by Global Affairs

Canada’s federal diplomatic protocols?

Hon. Ravi Kahlon : There are a couple of things in that comment.

First, our TIRs in the U.S. are not out of the Global Affairs Canada offices. The

member, I think, referred to them being based in the Seattle office. That’s not the

case. In the U.S., they are independent.

All the conversations around trade and our discussions with our U.S. counterparts

around, perhaps, differences of view on many measures are not done through the TIRs.

They’re done between us and…. I’ll keep using “GAC.” I think the member knows really

well this file. We work directly with GAC on those trade-related conversations. Our

TIRs are accessing and trying to get us commercially viable opportunities, and that’s

their focus.

I think the member asked: is our TIR team restricted by GAC in the U.S.? No, they’re

not. They report directly to us, as does the Asia team, as does the Europe team. Everyone

reports directly to us. They don’t take orders from GAC. They take information from

us.

Teresa Wat : It’s good to know that the two U.S. offices are independent.

Will the minister enlighten this committee why these two are independent as compared

with the other offices that are embedded with the embassy or the Global Affairs Canada?

[11:45 a.m.]

Hon. Ravi Kahlon : The member, I think, was the minister for this file and understands that the way business

is conducted, say, in the U.S. or Europe is different than it is in Asia — much deeper

around relationship-building. But also, the importance of elected officials and government

officials is different in the Asia context than it is here.

Having us have the ability to be located in GAC gives us the best of both worlds,

allows our teams to be able to look for commercial opportunities but also leverage

the country-to-country and then, of course, the province-to-state and province-to-province

relationships. That model is more suited for the Asia market.

Because the way business is done, often without us elected officials in the U.S. and

often in Europe, the model can be different in that structure. So both have opportunities,

depending on the jurisdiction where we’re trying to leverage opportunities.

Teresa Wat : I just have a simple question, since we are running out of time. Are these two the

only independent trade offices among all the 23 trade offices all over the world?

Hon. Ravi Kahlon : I think, just for the member’s interest, I’ll just say that we’ve got two markets

where they’re contracted, in the U.S. and Europe.

In the United States, we have representatives in Austin, Boston, Los Angeles, San

Francisco and Seattle. I can give this to the member in writing, if the member would

like.

Okay. But I just want to read it into the record.

In Europe, we have them in Amsterdam, in London, in Stuttgart, Germany. But we have

eight representatives that work through Europe. In India…. So those are contractors.

In the other markets, we’re within the Global Affairs Canada offices, but there are

independent people. So that’s in Bangalore, Chandigarh, Mumbai; in Indonesia. We opened

up a brand-new office in Vietnam — or a new team in Vietnam. Manila in the Philippines.

Singapore. In China, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai. We opened up a new team in Taiwan

— two representatives there. We’ve got Japan, South Korea, and we opened up a new

team in Mexico City. All those are embedded within the Global Affairs Canada office.

But I can give the member this in writing so the member has it in the same response

that we provide her with the other answer.

I move that the committee rise and report progress and ask leave to sit again.

Motion approved.

The Chair : Thank you very much, Members, for your work this morning, and this committee stands

adjourned.

The committee rose at 11:49 a.m.