Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I agree with the spirit of the motion moved by our NDP colleague. However, I disagree with Mr. Oliphant's statement that the idea of other waivers constitutes an opinion. I think that this exemplifies this government's bad habit of acting secretively. It isn't an opinion. In an article published on October 3, 2023, Le Devoir drew up a whole list of waivers granted by the Canadian government.
I remember all the fuss about the turbines. That didn't stop the government from continuing to grant waivers without telling anyone. This was revealed by Le Devoir. We then realized that we had been somewhat taken for a ride. As usual, the government took action behind closed doors, in a highly secretive manner.
This isn't an opinion. I'll be voting against Mr. Oliphant's amendment.
What annoys me about both Ms. McPherson's motion and Mr. Oliphant's proposed amendment is that they both put the spotlight on one type of waiver. Le Devoir revealed that there are a number of different types of waivers. The spotlight is on one industry, which strikes me as harmful to its reputation. The industry has been dragged into this situation unwillingly.
Mr. Oliphant made a point of stating in his remarks that thousands of sanctions had been imposed. When we studied the sanctions regime, the government went to the trouble of saying that we should always work with our allies in order to improve our effectiveness and avoid leaving industrial sectors in a tight spot. However, the government has done exactly the opposite. Our allies haven't imposed the same sanction on titanium. This has left our aerospace industry in a tight spot compared to its European and American competitors.
The government didn't do its job properly, so it had to introduce waivers to ensure that our industry wasn't put at a disadvantage. The government simply told the people in our industry to find supplies from somewhere else, without providing any support. When that didn't work, it introduced waivers, once again on the sly.
What annoys me about this motion is that it puts the spotlight on the aerospace industry. This bad publicity certainly isn't conducive to the industry's ongoing operations and development.
If the chair had given me the floor before handing it over to Mr. Oliphant, I would have moved a different and much simpler amendment. I would like to share it with you. Based on my proposal, you can decide what you want to do with Mr. Oliphant's amendments.
The idea would be to add, between the words “waivers”—