Industry and Technology Committee on April 20th, 2026

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Liard, in two minutes, can you tell us again about the importance of temporary workers? You were saying they represent 30% of your workforce. These are skilled workers: welders, machinists or operators, just to name a few. Why can't we find these types of workers here?

Is the government's decision to extend the duration of work permits by one year enough? If not, what does the government need to do?

[Isabelle Liard]

Temporary workers make up 30% of my workforce. It's hard to find skilled workers in Quebec. The training centres are practically empty, so there are no skilled workers graduating in these trades. When I advertise jobs, I hardly get a CV. When I receive them, they're from candidates who are abroad, so it's practically impossible to find any workers. We try every year. I continue to advertise jobs all the time. I recently advertised for welding positions, and I received janitor CVs. Unfortunately, in Quebec, there's a big labour shortage in skilled trades.

Yes, there was a one-year extension, but that's not enough. A year from now, what's the government going to do? Is it going to extend the permits for another year? A year goes by quickly. It often takes six months for workers to apply for a licence renewal. That's six months gone, right there. Then you have to start over and reapply for a licence renewal. That's a problem.

We have enough stress related to the U.S. and the tariffs, and we don't need the added stress of trying to keep our temporary workers. As a woman entrepreneur who's been around for two years, I'd say it's quite complex. We don't need to be stressed by our government about temporary workers. If the government could help us, we'd appreciate it.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Yes, there's the whole issue related to the U.S.

However, regarding temporary workers, the government could act quickly, and not just extend the permits for one year and, perhaps, the following year, extend them for another year. It could provide some stability.

In your presentation, you talked about the need to continually communicate with customs experts about all the changes, which is expensive. You said support in this area would be welcome. With the remaining 30 seconds, can you expand on that?

[Isabelle Liard]

Things are quite complicated right now. I run a small business with about thirty employees, and I think many companies like mine find themselves in the same situation every time new measures are announced.

Last Monday, I read in La Presse that there would be 25% tariffs on my products. I immediately panicked. We do research, we reach out, and we didn’t really understand. The only way out is to consult customs experts who charge $200 an hour. It’s been like this since last summer. I have to spend about five to 10 hours a week trying to figure out whether I have the right harmonized system codes, making sure my products qualify, and filing my steel and steel content declarations.

Therefore, it’s not easy. I would have liked the government to set up a hotline for contractors, to answer their questions and support them, instead of making them pay people $200 an hour to tell them how to do things and what’s going on.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

That's quite clear. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Thank you, Mr. Ste‑Marie.

Mr. Gourde, welcome to the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology. You have the floor for five minutes.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I’m pleased to be here.

Ms. Liard, yesterday, the Prime Ministeraddressed the public. He seemed to be saying that exports used to be an opportunity, but now they have become a problem.

Do speeches like the one we heard yesterday reassure you?

[Isabelle Liard]

That’s all well and good. I understand that we need to try to reduce our dependence on the United States, but in that case, what do we do? Where do I turn? What do I do? Where should I sell my products?

Last fall, the Quebec government and the Canadian government made major announcements regarding mining and hydroelectricity. These are large-scale projects that I would like to see come to fruition in the short term, because such projects could help Quebec’s metal-processing industry. In fact, when you build a mine or expand a power plant, you need mechanical equipment and suppliers. There should be regulations ensuring that Canadian companies are the ones supplying this equipment.

I believe this is an opportunity that Canada should seize quickly. If we want to stop depending on the United States in my sector, we’ll need to stimulate the Canadian industry through investments.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Has the government put in place a viable solution in the short, medium, and long term, or is it just a stopgap measure—or, worse, will it make your financial situation worse?

[Isabelle Liard]

Pardon me, I missed the start of that sentence.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

I was talking about the loan program the government has set up to help businesses. Could this be a viable solution in the short and medium term, or could it actually make your financial situation worse if no other solution is found?

[Isabelle Liard]

Right now, I don't want to take out any more loans. If the government lends me money, I'll have to pay it back. That's not what I need. I don't want to take on more debt when sales are down. I also have loans to pay back to the bank, so ideally, we wouldn't go down that route.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Thank you.

Mr. Azzopardi, could the loan program help you, or would it make your company’s financial situation worse? I think the government has already made concessions in the new negotiations with the Americans to remove tariffs.

[Jonathon Azzopardi]

I agree with my colleagues. The loan is not a good option.

What we just talked about is that we are looking to protect our profitability. The less profitability we have, the less money we have to pay for the loans. We also still have to demonstrate to the government that we are a profitable and viable company. By these measures, we will not measure up to that standard, so the loans aren't necessarily going to help and we'll be lucky if we get them.

Again, as I said before, you're trying to build a business, but somebody has to take that product. Competitiveness is only going to get us so far. The 10% to 25% we're going to see doesn't get us there. If you figure it out, in 18 months from now, with the 25% tariff, there is no industry in Canada that will survive a 25% tariff. I don't care how much you invest, how many machines you buy and how many things you do in your plant to try to make your business viable. Nobody survives 25%. There's no plan.

The automotive industry already showed you that even they cannot find a solution for this. How are small and medium-sized businesses going to find it?

It's good. Don't get me wrong. You asked me what I'm telling my employees. We are paying the building.... I just bought a brand-new machine. I just took a loan from the federal government because I'm planning that the sun's going to come up tomorrow. I'm planning for that, but if it doesn't come up and we don't have an agreement, there are likely going to be a lot of companies that are going to have no choice but to move to the United States, and it's not great there either. Mexico is the next alternative.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Ms. Vlanich, do you feel that the government and its partners are doing everything they can? Is the Prime Minister willing to put his neck on the line to defend your industry? The negotiations will come to an end one way or another, but the outcome needs to be positive.

[Nicole Vlanich]

I'm not sure what meetings and conversations the Prime Minister is having and I don't want to speak to that, but what I do know is that our industry is relying on our government to get something done for them so that they can continue existing.

On the topic of loans, for example, the companies cannot afford to use loans to keep themselves going. They made that mistake at the beginning of the EV transition, and then contracts were cancelled. They were still stuck paying for equipment that was purchased specifically just to build the EVs, and they never ended up building the parts. I can understand that they have a little hesitancy in taking loans again for something when there's no guarantee that they'll be here a year from now.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Do you feel—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Thank you, Mr. Gourde. Unfortunately, your time has expired.

Mr. Bains, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Richmond East—Steveston, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses for joining us today.

We've talked quite a bit about the tariffs and the challenges they're posing. We also heard today that the Supreme Court in the U.S. is starting to pay back some of the tariffs, but I think the real solutions we've talked about here still need to be.... The negotiations need to happen.

I wanted to talk a bit, maybe with you, Ms. Vlanich. You talked about Canada's mould, tool and die machine sector, and you mentioned aerospace. I have a background in aerospace. I'm curious. Could you talk a bit about the $16 billion that has been mentioned?

The industry exports $6 billion to $8 billion annually from the mould, tool and die machine sector to the U.S. Do you have other figures for the remaining $10 billion, broken down between domestic consumption and non-U.S. exports?

[Nicole Vlanich]

I don't have that with me, but it's from the Trillium machine network report. I can get that information for you, with more numbers.

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Richmond East—Steveston, BC]

Yes, please, and then maybe give the ripple effects you're talking about with the various sectors—automotive, of course, being the biggest and one we've talked a lot about here—and how these effects will ripple through supply chains to consumers, sector by sector. Are there others? I mentioned aerospace.

[Nicole Vlanich]

Mould-makers are intertwined in most things. Anything plastic that you own started with a mould. When we're talking about mould-making, yes, automotive is a big part of it, especially in Windsor-Essex. In packaging, consumer products, medical devices, aerospace, defence, glasses and cellphone cases, everybody has something that was created with a mould. It would have an impact across all industries.

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Richmond East—Steveston, BC]

Again, we talked a bit about the tools and the various sectors. It's hitting all these different sectors. Maybe you can talk a little bit about past difficulties dealing with tariffs. Has that happened? How has your industry responded to that?

I'm also wondering how vocal your organization has been and what you're doing right now on the ground in Washington, D.C.

[Nicole Vlanich]

Our members were always CUSMA-compliant. Tariffs were never a concern prior to 2025. In 2025, they were hit with tariffs. As an example, one of our members was hit with tariffs last year, and it was $1,500 on that mould crossing. Now it's on the full PO value, so now they're paying over $30,000 for that same exact product. It has been very impactful to them.

Prior to that, they were always CUSMA-compliant, so they didn't have to worry about being charged tariffs on the goods they were crossing with. That's ultimately the goal that we need to return to.

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Richmond East—Steveston, BC]

Maybe I'll switch to you, Mr. Azzopardi. You talked about being at the table in Washington, D.C. I would ask you a similar question with regard to what you're doing right now. You said you talk to people you're working with. You're calling your clients. Have you gone there? Have you had some discussions? Are they supporting those discussions at the table?