Government Operations Committee on June 9th, 2026

[Pauline Rochefort, Liberal, Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON]

I see. Okay. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I'm starting the speaking order. As a reminder to everyone, I will note who's speaking and the next person, and that's it. I will not be nagging you. Put your name on the speaking list. If debate runs out, it runs out.

Ms. Sudds.

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Is it possible to have this circulated, just so I have it at my fingertips?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

It was circulated a couple of days ago. We can recirculate it, though.

[Jenna Sudds, Liberal, Kanata, ON]

Do you mind? Off the top of my head, I have a few comments. I paid attention when it came in.

First of all, I would posit that a very similar study has been proposed at a number of other committees, including the health committee. That's what I have been told. I would suggest, Chair, that we should be stewards of resources here in the House of Commons. I think the duplication of efforts isn't necessarily needed in this moment. We have a full agenda ahead of us. We have studies under way. I do not see the value of our disrupting that schedule, with the few short meetings that we have left, when this is already being reviewed at other committees.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I have Madame Gaudreau.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Mr. Chair, seriously, the purpose of this committee is government operations and estimates.

We were on estimates, and we are analyzing beforehand what is coming with the buy Canadian policy. However, when money is involved, we need to stay in our lane, and our responsibility here is to ensure that we have all the information we need to shed light and set the record straight.

In my opinion, and I know my colleague who works in health, this is not resolved. The goal is not to wait for a finding by the Auditor General that will be published in the public accounts. Let's do it now.

How will we be able to make good on our commitments? We have the M‑16 study and this study here that needs to be completed. There are also other motions on notice. I can't add weeks to the year, but we will be on break shortly.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

Mr. Gill.

[Harb Gill, Conservative, Windsor West, ON]

Chair, I was actually present at the health committee when this subject came up. They declined the offer to bring the health minister in to speak to this matter.

I will say the same thing I said over there. We have a sacred obligation to the taxpayer. We have to respect them as well. Denying taxpayers those opportunities to listen completely to what's going on.... This $300 million is not chump change. That's a significant amount of money. We have to at least look at where things went wrong, and we need to correct them.

This is not a blame game of any kind. It's an investigative game. How do we do this, and how can we get better at doing what we do?

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I have no one else on the speaking list, so we will go to a vote.

(Motion negatived: nays 5; yeas 4)

Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on your view—the motion is defeated.

We will now go to Mr. Gasparro for our final round.

Go ahead, for five minutes, Mr. Gasparro.

[Vince Gasparro, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Wonderful.

Thank you both for being here. I'm an Argos fan, so I'm obviously a born-and-raised Toronto guy.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

That is your time, Mr. Gasparro.

[Vince Gasparro, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

We'll just end on a high note.

For the three people watching at home, I will note that the Conservatives are saying that it's all downhill from here.

In my riding of Eglinton—Lawrence, I have the original Canada Goose manufacturing facility. They've obviously expanded over the years. They employ hundreds of people, so I have some line of sight on the textile industry and how important it is, still, to communities across the country. I see it in my riding every day.

You touched on this, as have others: From your perspective, how critical is buy Canadian, not only for SMEs but also for the industry more broadly?

[James Yurichuk]

It's very important, especially at this critical moment in time. There are a few things going on. We're having this supercycle in defence. We're having this rapid technology advancement in terms of AI and robotics. When I look at textiles, I can see that there's going to be more automation and innovation brought online in the next five to 10 years than there has been in the last 100 years.

We really have to capture these moments happening in Canada, or else we're going to be trailing and watching other countries continue to make our goods and siphon Canada's wealth off.

[Vince Gasparro, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Not to go way back down memory lane, but when I was doing my MBA, we did a foreign trip. We went to Vietnam and toured some of the textile facilities there. There were—excuse the analogy—football-field lengths of people lined up at sewing machines. They had the whole supply chain right there, to the point where individuals were tagging the garments. I have some grey hair on my head, so I don't want to say when this was, but it was a long time ago.

You referred to the repatriation of some of those jobs in a previous answer. Can you connect the dots among what's happening overseas—like in that example of the textile industry being shipped to other jurisdictions—the automation taking place and some of the capital investment we can see here in the country for buy Canadian?

[James Yurichuk]

Certainly.

What I think has happened is that we've lost a lot of engineering. There's engineering in designing a product and having it made elsewhere, but there's also engineering behind making that product locally. Industry has to do its part to make that cost-effective. This is a trend we're seeing in defence right now. They want cost-effective solutions.

Again, this is a great time to bring things back, because, with AI, automation and robotics, this is when we can dedicate more time to the engineering of manufacturing, instead of allowing other countries to take that over again. What's happened over the last 30 to 40 years in textile is that they've learned off our dime. They've learned how to do things and how to make things efficiently. Now it's time to take it back and make things efficiently at home, creating high value with consistent quality.

[Vince Gasparro, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Really, what you're also touching on is capacity building, so that our country learns how to do this again.

[James Yurichuk]

We definitely have to hit that muscle memory, because it's not going to happen overnight, going from zero to 100. We have to prepare ourselves in various areas.

Again, for the one I'm most focused on, we see this as a critical capability. There's so much focus on the north. It's not only about getting people online so they can operate in the north. It's also about the systems that operate in the north. For batteries and engines, there are textiles in the equation that allow them to stay insulated and that prolong their usability in harsh environments.

That's why I came here. It's so important to me that we look at textiles as a critical industry in Canada, definitely.

[Vince Gasparro, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

That's great. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kelly McCauley]

I apologize. We're past our time.

Witnesses, thank you for being with us today. We appreciate your time.

If there's nothing else, colleagues, we are adjourned.