Evidence of meeting #18 for International Trade in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was forced.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Mr. Chair, the interpretation is not good because we have two people at the same time.
December 4th, 2025 / 3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Adam Chambers Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Minister, it sounds as though your government negotiated a $15-billion corporate subsidy for Stellantis without a 100% jobs guarantee for the footprint of Stellantis at that time.
Liberal
Conservative
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Let her finish. Your time is up, and I want everybody to have a shot today.
Minister, go ahead.
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
In 2009, when you negotiated and shook hands with GM and Chrysler at the time, there were no job guarantees. Following this, the Oshawa plant for GM was closed, the Windsor plant for GM was closed, the Ford assembly plant was closed and the Orion bus assembly plant in Mississauga was closed. It was devastating.
We were the first government to bring back jobs in the auto sector. We were able to create around 3,000 jobs in Windsor, and we were able to create around 3,000 jobs in St. Thomas—
Conservative
Liberal
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Welcome, Minister Joly. I'm happy to have you with us today.
In 2018, the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA, was negotiated, and you were already involved in that. I remember that there were difficulties regarding a cultural exemption and protecting French. Culture is a major economic driver in Montreal.
I would like to know the government's position on what are very delicate subjects for Quebeckers and for all francophones outside Quebec.
Can you explain it to us?
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
Thank you, Ms. Lapointe.
The cultural exemption is very important to us, certainly in the context of the renegotiation of CUSMA, but also in all of our free trade agreements. We always make sure to include it in free trade agreements.
We have also signed the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, which is very important because it allows the government to legislate to protect our culture with the necessary funding without fear of reprisal from the U.S. or Mexico—funding for organizations like the CBC, the Canada Media Fund, the National Film Board of Canada, Telefilm Canada and many others.
I always work in tandem with the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you for the information.
As you know, my riding is located in the Lower Laurentians. The aeronautics sector is highly concentrated around Montreal, but also in the Lower Laurentians. Quebec has a lot of businesses in the aerospace, clean tech, energy and food processing sectors. Many of those businesses are located in my riding.
How will the future version of CUSMA protect or benefit these sectors?
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
These sectors will benefit, of course, because the supply chains for the aerospace sector between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. are obvious. American companies like Bell Textron, L3Harris and many others invest in the Lower Laurentians. Bombardier also has factories in the U.S. Everything is integrated and definitely coordinated.
There is another aspect that isn't necessarily linked to the renegotiation of CUSMA, but is most definitely linked to us focusing on mitigating tariff impacts. We're currently working on a defence industrial strategy. We believe that the aerospace sector will greatly benefit from this because, in the context of this defence industrial strategy, our ground rule is to build in Canada. When proceeding with large defence procurement, our aim will be to create jobs at home and to build in Quebec and across Canada.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
The fact that we're also making defence investments in my neck of the woods is good news for my region.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
How does the government intend to use the renegotiation to make the manufacturing and technology sectors more competitive, particularly in Quebec?
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
Canada is the only G7 country to have free trade agreements with every other G7 country. The Minister of International Trade could provide you with even more details on the considerable number of free trade agreements we have with countries across the globe.
As the minister responsible for investments made in Canada, I get to meet representatives of companies that want to invest here. Canada's access to different markets around the world is a very attractive card that we have in hand. It can certainly help to bolster Canada's competitiveness in that context.
Other measures in the budget, like tax credits, are very positive and will attract investments.
To get back to the renegotiation of CUSMA, I think that our objective will be to maintain access to the U.S. and Mexican markets, while acknowledging that some of our sectors are hit by unjustifiable and unjustified tariffs that we have to take care of. That too is part of my job. It's part of my role.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I got some questions from businesses in the steel processing sector. They think that 50% and 25% tariffs are unfair. What should I tell these people in my region?
Liberal
Mélanie Joly Liberal Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC
They're right to think that the tariffs are unjustified and unjustifiable. They're direct victims of these tariffs.
The way I see things, we're currently in a trade war. There's an economic battle being waged, and the sectors targeted by the tariffs are the front lines. In Quebec, the front lines are aluminum and steel. Elsewhere in Canada, most notably in Ontario, it's the auto industry. Softwood lumber is also somewhat impacted across the country, definitely in Quebec.
My job is to help people on the front lines and to support these business owners, who are very concerned about dealing with the effects of these tariffs. They suddenly have to diversify their exports, find new markets and find or develop new products. My job is to help them adapt and find new opportunities. It's not an easy task, but it's the mandate we were given by the people.