Evidence of meeting #24 for Industry and Technology in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was amendment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
—unless the Conservatives are against the footprint of these jobs—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ben Carr
Colleagues, give me one moment, please.
Several members are flagging an issue with the interpretation because two people are speaking over one another.
I have been pausing the clock, Madam Dancho, when I have found the minister's answer to go a little longer. You have one minute and 40 seconds remaining. As I mentioned at the outset, this is about fairness. We want quality answers.
Minister, I'll afford you about 20 seconds to respond.
Madam Dancho, I'll then go back to you. Again, if I see there's a lack of equality, I'll pause the clock in order to afford you the time that remains.
Minister, please take about 20 seconds.
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
I think her colleague, Mrs. Borrelli from Windsor, would agree that the jobs at Stellantis are important. Now there are three shifts. We need to make sure we support auto workers here in Canada, including those working for U.S. companies.
At the same time, we need to make sure GM and Stellantis, which have reduced their auto production in Canada, are on the hook. We're going after the money, and we're reducing their market access. This is what we're doing with—
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Again, you seem to be placing this as some sort of negotiating strategy. This is a subsidy available to cars exclusively made in the United States.
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
If they're made in the United States, they're eligible for this subsidy. It's not employing any Canadians if you're buying an American-made electric vehicle. It just seems very unethical to us that you would design a program like that.
It would be quite simple to say that American vehicles are not eligible for this, given what they're doing to our auto sector. I'm not quite sure why you're not taking that position.
Perhaps you can elaborate.
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
Yes.
When we say that we're reducing their market access, we mean they will have tariffs imposed. When they have tariffs imposed, of course, it will be higher than the $50,000 cap for vehicles.
When you say that we're subsidizing, the reality is that we're supporting cars—
Conservative
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
—that will be less than $50,000. Obviously, this will have an impact on vehicles coming from the U.S. that are linked to automakers reducing their footprint.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ben Carr
There are 20 seconds left, Madam Dancho. Make it concise, please.
Minister, make your response concise, please, and then we will move on to the next question.
Conservative
Conservative
Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB
Again, this subsidy is accessible to American-made electric vehicles. We feel that's deeply unethical, given what the American administration is doing. I'm not satisfied with your answers, so I'm going to move the following motion, Mr. Chair:
That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) the committee undertake a study of no less than 4 meetings on the Federal Government's Electric Vehicle (EV) Policies, including in relation to Chinese EVs; that the committee invite the Minister of Industry to testify for no less than 2 hours, alone, in relation to the study; that the committee invite other witnesses selected by each party to testify in relation to the study; that this study take precedence over all other business; and that the committee report its findings and recommendations to the House.
Mr. Chair, there have been communications with other parties, so I know that with some tweaks we can get to a good motion here that we can pass, but I don't want to take away a lot of questioning time from everyone.
If you agree, Mr. Chair, we will allow this to be paused and at the end of the minister's time today, we will resume this discussion in public.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ben Carr
Thank you, Madam Dancho.
Colleagues, I have two things. First, this is the identical motion which Madam Dancho put on notice on Friday, so there are no problems in terms of admissibility here.
We appreciate the fact that we have the minister and her officials here. We should be taking advantage of that time.
I'm going to take a quick glance around the room to ensure that you'll allow me to bypass the standing order here and that we commit that we will get to this when the minister leaves. We'll honour that commitment, so that we can continue—
Liberal
February 9th, 2026 / 3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Dominique O'Rourke Liberal Guelph, ON
Thank you very much for being here, Minister. Thank you for the measures in budget 2025.
In the context of our productivity study, and in the context of the defence industrial strategy, witness after witness after witness talked about the importance of the regional tariff response initiative. They talked about improving the SR and ED program. They talked about the value of the productivity superdeduction.
Minister, I'm wondering if you want to talk about the pieces in budget 2025 that are really critical to pass as quickly as possible to give businesses confidence that these measures are in place for them, particularly as they pertain to agribusiness, manufacturing, trades training and retraining.
I will hand it over to you to talk about how urgent it is to pass the budget, so that businesses can have access to these critical supports.
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
Thank you, dear colleague.
I have a couple of things.
It goes without saying that all the measures in Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 1, regarding the strategic response fund are very important. The fund gives us the tools to help tariff-affected businesses while investing in businesses looking to grow in Canada.
A few weeks ago, as the industry minister, I put forward my plan for the sector. We must not only protect jobs, but also create them. That is why the strategic response fund and all the measures related to the tax credits and R and D are so important.
For too long, small and medium-sized businesses have shouldered the costs of excessive red tape and waited longer than they should to receive the funding they deserve. This has caused frustrating cash flow issues, especially for growing businesses that constantly need to invest in and embrace cutting-edge technology. That is why we have made additional investments in a new approach, the tax credits.
That is why the passage of Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 1, is so important. I gave you two examples, but I could go on. I could give you 50.
Liberal
Dominique O'Rourke Liberal Guelph, ON
Does it make sense for the members of the opposition to vote against a budget that will help workers access training, help industries access funding and bring tariff relief to some of the hardest-hit industries?
Do you understand why they are against all those supports for our most vulnerable industries, supports that would help them build resilience and seize opportunities for growth?
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
Thank you, Ms. O'Rourke.
I can understand parliamentary sparring. I can understand the desire of the opposition, especially the Conservatives, to play partisan games in an effort to elbow the government a bit. However, these are not normal circumstances. We are in a time when anxiety and unpredictability are running high because of our neighbour to the south. That creates an investment climate that is somewhat averse to new key forms of funding or investment.
We need predictability. We need to implement this plan, which has strong support across the country. It lays out clear policy commitments and has been very well received by the business community. For that reason, I think it's time to stop playing politics. We need to be able to pass this budget.
Liberal
Dominique O'Rourke Liberal Guelph, ON
Minister, to come back to the auto strategy announcement, which was very well received by the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, Unifor, auto dealers and global automakers, could you share with this committee why the response has been so positive and why it's so strategic at this moment for the industry?
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
We did a lot of work and we met a lot with the workers. I went to Ingersoll, Brampton and Oshawa. I've been in contact with many of the players in the industry. We also met, obviously, with Lana Payne. I have her on speed-dial. She's been very helpful. We both agree that we need to do more to fight for these jobs, because if we don't, there's real traction for these jobs to go south of the border.
We also worked a lot with the premier. He and I speak to each other every two or three days. I've also been in constant contact with Minister Fedeli, because we both want the same thing, which is to protect jobs and, at the same time, create more jobs.
I've been in contact with Honda and Toyota. I've been to Japan, South Korea and Germany to attract more investments in the auto sector. I was in contact again with Bev Goodman at Ford over the weekend. She's the president of Ford Canada. I've met with GM. I've met with Stellantis. I speak to Rob Wildeboer all the time. He's in charge of Martinrea. I was on the phone with Linda Hasenfratz from Linamar over the weekend.
The goal is to understand everybody's position and, based on that, bring a plan that is very pragmatic.
What the industry is facing right now is the U.S. tariffs. At the same time, there's a real industrial revolution happening in the sector. Basically, there are great technologies being developed in China and around the world. We need to make sure that the North American market is not the last market to embrace them, because the rest of the world is modernizing.
How do we do it? That's what we were trying to do. I think we were able to land on a really good plan, which is about supporting auto workers and supporting auto production. At the same time, we want to make sure that there's real research and development and a real adoption of new technologies in order to have a very strong auto sector for the next hundred years.
Liberal