Evidence of meeting #33 for National Defence in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was equipment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Joe McGuire Liberal Egmont, PE
I think the minister should answer this question. It is a political decision to have industrial regional benefits. It always was a government policy. It's not a military policy; it's a government policy—
Conservative
Gordon O'Connor Conservative Carleton—Mississippi Mills, ON
No, but to recount your question, you asked what did the military think.
Liberal
Joe McGuire Liberal Egmont, PE
—and you should declare whether you are supportive of that policy or not.
Conservative
Conservative
Gordon O'Connor Conservative Carleton—Mississippi Mills, ON
If you want to ask me what I think, I think industrial benefits are an excellent practice that in fact basically got developed in this country years ago, and now other countries have caught on.
We get a twofer out of it: we get the equipment we need, and we also get investment in Canada in our industry. With clever investments, we can make sure that from coast to coast to coast in this country various companies that are related to aerospace or defence or vehicles or electronics will get a boost from defence investments.
So I think it's a great thing.
Liberal
Joe McGuire Liberal Egmont, PE
So you will direct General Hillier, then, when he's designing the requirements for the equipment, that there will be a major directive that regions will benefit by the expenditure of the Canadian taxpayers' dollars.
Conservative
Gordon O'Connor Conservative Carleton—Mississippi Mills, ON
Neither myself nor General Hillier have anything to do with that. That's the industry minister. The defence department sets the requirement and provides the funds for whatever we're trying to acquire. It's the industry minister who sets the industrial benefits.
You asked me what I thought of it. I like the idea of industrial benefits, but I have no say in it. I don't say who gets what.
Liberal
Liberal
Joe McGuire Liberal Egmont, PE
So maybe we shouldn't be buying these planes off the rack. We should maybe—
Conservative
Gordon O'Connor Conservative Carleton—Mississippi Mills, ON
It matters not whether we buy them off the rack or build them. If we buy them off the rack, as you put it, those companies have to invest in Canada--if they're foreign. If it's a Canadian company, they're investing already.
Liberal
Joe McGuire Liberal Egmont, PE
But if it's dollar for dollar, and apparently out of the $3.4 billion, only $1.1 billion is going to be eligible for regional industrial benefits—
Conservative
Gordon O'Connor Conservative Carleton—Mississippi Mills, ON
You'll have to talk to the industry minister. This is not a defence matter; it's industry.
Liberal
Joe McGuire Liberal Egmont, PE
But a lot of times the industry designs their price and their equipment on the basis of giving the regional industrial process a good kick at the cat, and this apparently is not something that's very well appreciated. The companies themselves do pay...they will wear a fair program, and they design their submissions with that very much in mind.
Conservative
Gordon O'Connor Conservative Carleton—Mississippi Mills, ON
The defence department's part of the process is to identify what is required and provide the funding for it, and then to be the user at the end, to make sure it can work within the defence requirements, and to train on it. The defence department has nothing to do with industrial benefits.
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
Do you believe, Minister, that the fact that we need to possess the capacity to do our own maintenance is also a very important issue for our men and women? If we're at the mercy of Boeing in the United States and we cannot do the maintenance because it's up to them, don't you think you're at their mercy?
Conservative
Gordon O'Connor Conservative Carleton—Mississippi Mills, ON
As I understand it, a number of air force personnel are to be trained to maintain the aircraft. As well, there are Boeing plants all over the planet. There is no way we would get squeezed out on maintenance.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rick Casson
Thank you very much.
I thank the committee for their cooperation in keeping us on schedule. Hopefully, gentlemen, as we go through this process and come up with the report and some recommendations, it will be useful for everybody.
The meeting is adjourned.