FOR someone with a Bachelor of Arts degree, one would expect Ambassador Neil Reeder of Canada to dwell on the arts and humanities, something that might be of interest to the readers of the Envoys and Expats section.
But Reeder, a Journalism degree graduate would rather talk of serious matters, and so, during our nearly hourlong conversation, we found him adept at selling Canada, like a car salesman would purvey a brand-new model.
This time, he said he is paving the way for the Philippines to take advantage of Canada’s liquefied natural gas (LNG), which they would be peddling to the Asia-Pacific (Aspac) region in the next three to five years.
“Canada has a 150-year supply. We would like to share with the Asia Pacific the way we share conventional gas with the United States for decades,” he said, adding they want to diversify their market away from America.
“LNG provides us that opportunity because of the heavy demand for power, for gas, from utilities in these parts of the Asia Pacific,” Reeder said.
The western provinces of British Columbia (BC) and Alberta have huge reserves of gas and shale gas, he said, and BC is placing a high priority on developing LNG terminals north of Vancouver. From there, they expect to export their LNG into markets in Asia, such as China, Korea, Japan and the rest of the Aspac countries.
Reeder said he had been networking in the country, offering LNG, which is way much cleaner than coal, and abundant. “We’re saying to the Philippines that Canada becomes an energy exporter within five years, and British Columbia has huge reserves, as well as Alberta.”
A clean alternative to coal
HE said he is offering the local energy and power producers an alternative, “So that if you want to increase the gas portion of your mix, if you want to reduce dependence on coal. We’re looking at BC in five years to export.”
He said that those who want might like to invest in their LNG terminals “and be part of the play to get guaranteed supply of LNG from Canada for the next 20 years on equity commitment.”
“I’m not going into details, just highlighting these, but there are now a number of investors from the region who are looking at this terminal as they move forward to Columbia,” he added.
The Canadian envoy hinted that Philippine power producers should take the initiative now to look for possibly cheaper sources of gas in the future, noting the country’s gas production in Malampaya is declining. “Unless you find a radical new development to produce sources of gas, you’ll see a tapering off of gas productions.”
There are other sources of gas, he said, but Reeder dangles the prospect that their LNG is “very competitively priced,” since the Canadian dollar is now at very attractive level compared with the US dollar.
Reeder admits, though, that LNG price is a little soft because of declining price of oil.
“Everybody is kind of reassessing the trending, but in the longer term, it [LNG] is a clean energy source, it’s a competitive cost, and very accessible through BC once those terminals are established,” he explained.
The other reason he is offering Canadian LNG to local power producers, he said, is because his country is a good potential source “and Canada is a very reliable customer.”
“You are still coal dependent. Coal is cheap and abundant, but then we know it’s not that clean,” he says as he offers Canada’s clean coal technology.
“We’re also promoting clean coal technology in Western Canada. We got a strong coal-based production. It’s an interesting work going on there,” he boasted.
“But in the long term, if the Philippines is going to move from gas and less coal, we would like to be part of that process,” the ambassador added, saying there’s potential for the country’s investors to take advantage of what his country is offering.
Since a good car dealer needs to stage a demo to show off their product, Reeder is not far behind doing the same. He promised to hold a seminar next year for potential buyers, “to see the LNG potential, educate people here, but obviously to see the market.”
“People know our LNG capacity and the number of exporters in Canada are already new players,” he said.
Lately, however, America’s dependence on imported oil had been reversed, thanks to hydraulic fracturing or fracking, which enable it to pump oil out of rock or shale. The increased production has enabled the US to become a net fuel exporter. This is why world fuel prices are going down, which has affected the market terribly, Reeder explained.
“But the shale oil and gas revolutions has affected the US and Canada, across the border,” he said, “raising minor problems in Saskatchewan, a part of Alberta, benefiting from shale, including Dakota, Montana and Wyoming, as well.”
“It’s a very exciting development and we think that we got a good potential here,” he added.
Help for Yolanda survivors
Aside from the promise of abundant and cheap LNG, Reeder is proud of Canadian companies in the Philippines, such as Sunlife Insurance. It is engaged in social projects such as housing for the Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) victims. It has also provided classrooms and funded scholarships for students in Tacloban to gain access to the universities, following Yolanda.
Manulife, another Canadian company here, has engaged in social-housing projects, with Gawad Kalinga and other small-scale projects.
“I think it’s really been impressive to see the work that’s being done, and it makes me feel good as a Canadian to see that our companies are investing, providing employment, but also contributing to community development,” Reeder said.
But he is just as proud of Manulife’s business-process outsourcing (BPO), which opened a second facility in Cebu with more than 800 employees. He expects this number to increase to 1,200 “very quickly,” pointing out a brand-new office in Lapu-Lapu City.
Numero uno BPO country
TO date, Canada’s BPO companies employ 24,000 Filipinos in the country.
The interview brought us to the question of how Filipinos—and the Philippines for that matter—have become the numero uno BPO in the world, beating India.
“You’re very good with languages, but you’re also too good at mimicking accent,” the ambassador revealed, saying the caller, who could be halfway around the globe, could not distinguish whether the speaker is a native-born Canadian.
We asked whether a Filipino had to be proficient in a British or American accent to qualify as a Canadian call-center agent, and he replied that Canada has a neutral accent. “It’s not a problem, but Filipinos do quite well, just in the tone to the callers,” he explained.
We asked him how to qualify Canadian English in contrast to the English in the UK and the US, and he said: “It’s mid-Atlantic; it’s between the two.” He added that his language is now closer to the US, “but not the UK of today.”
On another subject, Reeder says a new company, Open Text Corp., Canada’s largest technology company, had just arrived in the Philippines and has bought an American company here with 12,000 employees.
“They do cloud management, data management for big corporations,” he related. “The company is now working to grow their presence here.”
Reeder said the Philippine acquisition is important for the firm because a lot of work in cloud management is done through its office in the country.
“Open Text is a very good company, over a billion dollars in revenues. It is our biggest software company, and very important company, as well,” he said.
A market for Canadian lumber
CANADA is also exporting softwood for lumber, and Matimco, formerly Mandaue Timber Co., is the country’s largest buyer of their softwood, Reeder revealed. He said that the wood, which Japan also buys in large quantities, is used for residential purposes.
“In the context of Yolanda, construction would be able to see more of our softwood because the life of coco-lumber is not as long as softwood,” he explained.
Aside from a source of cheap lumber, Canada’s package includes a company that produces modular housing, and social housing for lower-income families.
“We’re pitching both in the context of Yolanda construction,” he said, noting that Tacloban and other parts of the country would have access to lower-entry homes they can afford. “So, that’s another lead were developing, as well.”
Extent of two-way trade
FROM gas to lumber to BPO centers, Canada offers a wide range of exports that includes meat, wood and cereals.
On the other hand, the Philippines exports to Canada electrical machinery, optical and medical instruments, and rubber.
Two-way trade between the Philippines and Canada has reached over $1.7 billion, a 15-percent increase from previous year.
Reeder says Canadian exports here are valued at more than $600 million in 2013. The agri-food exports increased by 40 percent alone, “reinforcing the Philippines’s position as our second largest agri-food market in Asean.”
“The Philippines is one of our top 10 markets for pork,” he added.
Bombardier Aerospace, the world’s third largest aircraft manufacturer, has a major BPO operation in Cebu, and Telus, one of Canada’s largest telecommunication companies, is a major BPO employer in the country.
Recently, the Philippine Defense Department signed a $105-million contract with Canada to procure eight helicopters for the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The choppers will be manufactured in Bell Helicopter’s facility in Mirabel, Quebec.
Reeder says Canada is exploring other defense trade opportunities and employs active defense training programs.
In Cebu Reeder said Canada will be building a waste-energy facility to handle municipal waste.
Vancouver-based Aquilini Group is poised to solve Lapu-Lapu City’s waste problems, saying they would like to share this important technology with us, he added.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano