Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, committee members.
Thank you for having us today and allowing us to contribute to your study on the buy Canadian policy. My name's Daniel Cloutier, and I'm the Quebec director of Unifor. Unifor is the largest private sector union in Canada. We represent 320,000 members, including 55,000 in Quebec, in virtually all sectors of the economy.
I'll get straight to the point. The trade war triggered by the United States reminds us of a harsh truth. Our economy has become too dependent on a single partner and our industrial capacity has eroded. The good news is that Canadians have understood that. They want us to buy what we make. By launching its buy Canadian policy in December, the government showed that it was listening. It's a good start, but we need to think bigger and go further.
Let me tell you about a case that sums up the whole issue: the Paccar plant in Sainte-Thérèse. It's the last truck assembly plant in Canada. The last one. Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks have been built there for decades. In January 2024, it was producing 92 trucks per day. Today, it produces barely 25. We've seen several rounds of layoffs since last spring. Nearly 800 jobs have been lost. Hundreds of families have been affected in just over a year.
Why? Because Mr. Trump imposed 25% tariffs on trucks and part of the production was transferred south of the border. The tariffs are unjustifiable and must be removed.
The company is trying to reinvent itself. It's turning to the Canadian market, to electric trucks. These are commendable efforts, but let's be clear. Without orders, these investments won't bring our members back to work. That is where the government has a direct lever. Federally, provincially and municipally, our public truck fleet managers, our Crown corporations and our police forces still too often buy trucks made abroad.
When the country is down to its last truck factory and public money is being used to buy trucks elsewhere, something's not right. That's why we have concrete recommendations. I will go through them in order of importance.
First—and this is essential—the requirements of the buy Canadian policy must be applied retroactively to markets with a strategic role in rebuilding the country and to high-value contracts, those over one billion dollars, that have not yet been awarded. I'm thinking in particular of Via Rail's $3‑billion contract for new cars and locomotives. Three billion dollars in public funds is exactly the kind of leverage that can build a supply chain, support thousands of jobs and anchor expertise here. We can't afford to let it leave the country.
Second, American suppliers must be excluded from preferential treatment in the next reciprocal procurement policy, regardless of the U.S.'s being a free trade partner. Reciprocity goes both ways. The buy American rule closes the door to our businesses. Meanwhile, our government contracts remain wide open to American businesses. The imbalance needs to be corrected.
Third, all of the government's powers to discourage offshoring must be considered. A legal opinion we commissioned is clear. The Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act already exists. It can be invoked quickly, without new legislation, to sanction companies that comply with the United States' unfair trade decrees. It can be broadened. Sanctions can be made harsher. The reintroduction into Canada of goods that were produced here and are now being brought in from the United States could even be prohibited. The Paccar case shows that this isn't theoretical.
I'll say one final word about the reflex to accept the lowest bidder. The principle makes sense, especially when public finances are tight, but the lowest bill does not reflect the true cost to society. When our industrial footprint crumbles, our tax base shrinks along with it. Jobs, taxes and communities are disappearing.
A more flexible approach is therefore needed, one that incorporates other criteria. That includes local content, industrial footprint and our sovereign manufacturing capacity. Buying Canadian isn't an expense. It's an investment in our own resilience. Our members aren't asking for charity. They're asking for a chance to build here what we buy here.
Thank you for listening, and I'm available to answer all your questions.