Thank you for the invitation to provide input into this important study on development and support for Canada's aerospace industry.
With me today is Renaud Gagné, Unifor Quebec director.
As you are well aware, the aerospace industry is incredibly important to the economic success of our country. There is no question that the aerospace industry is in trouble. Unifor has consistently monitored the state of the aerospace industry in Canada throughout the pandemic. In general, the industry fared better than others in the early stages of the pandemic; however, it has become obvious that the worst is yet to come.
When the pandemic began, approximately 40% of our members in the aerospace sector were laid off due to emergency orders and the desire to keep workers and the public safe. Many of our members went back to work, but 8% of those layoffs were not rescinded. Since our last calculations, even more layoffs have been announced. All of the layoff announcements are devastating.
One that stands out for me is the announcement that De Havilland Aircraft will stop producing the iconic Dash 8 aircraft at the Downsview, Ontario, plant, a move that affects nearly 700 of our members. I'm on a leave of absence from that plant. I am a De Havilland Aircraft employee. I'm clock number 28091, just for the record.
The current build schedule shows end of production in May of this year. Prior to the pandemic, De Havilland's order book was healthy, and research and development were in full swing. Around the world, thousands of aircraft were grounded, and the order book at the company quite literally emptied. Regional routes are predicted to be the first to recover. This is the Dash 8's market. We know demand will return, and we need to make sure production capacity will be there when it does.
To mitigate layoffs, our members at Boeing are utilizing the EI work-sharing program right now. This is a great short-term and medium-term solution, but they need to know that commercial aerospace work is coming back. Bombardier recently announced layoffs as well—a hundred at the facilities in Toronto and 700 in Quebec.
Renaud will go into further details about the situation in Quebec, but I wanted to drive home the point about layoffs here. Pratt & Whitney has laid off hundreds of workers. The list goes on and on.
The aerospace industry is a leading technology creator and invests extensively in research and development. That investment bleeds into other industries and sustains an entire ecosystem of good jobs and economic growth across the country. Letting the aerospace industry wither is simply not an option because of the risk that would pose to the future economic stability and growth we need.
Canada must continue to foster and develop a strong aerospace industry that will make our country a global leader in advanced manufacturing. To do this, we will need to keep our highly trained aerospace workers connected to their jobs, even while on layoff, by enhancing and extending the Canadian emergency wage subsidy.
We need an industry-focused support package, with access to liquidity for critical aerospace companies, to navigate through the pandemic.
We need governments that buy Canadian and promote Canadian-made aerospace products in both the local and export markets.
We need the federal government to create a multi-stakeholder aerospace industry council, to develop a comprehensive industrial strategy that ensures good, stable and well-paid employment opportunities, a strong and resilient domestic supply chain, thriving commercial and defence sectors and multi-stakeholder engagement.
Thank you for your time and attention. I will now pass things over to my colleague, Renaud Gagné, to provide you with further details on Quebec.