National Defence Committee on Feb. 20th, 2007

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

During the process?

[Michael Fortier]

No, after the process.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

I was told that it was during the process.

[Michael Fortier]

Yes.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

But was it in your capacity as minister for the Montreal region?

[Michael Fortier]

Exactly. Since you raised the matter, to avoid any insinuations, Airbus came to explain to me its approach for developing an aerospace industry zone in Montreal.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Therefore, companies can come to see you.

[Michael Fortier]

Yes, they absolutely can.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Now I want to discuss ITAR. What do you know about ITAR, Mr. Minister? As the minister responsible for the Montreal region, you know that Bell Helicopter has a share of the aerospace contracts, especially for defence. The other House asked you whether the next purchasing contract would be submitted to ITAR, and you answered that it was ITAR-friendly.

I want to reassure the honourable senator, however,

—je crois qu'il parle du sénateur Prud'homme—

that with respect to the purchase of the planes we have been talking about for the past 20 minutes, nothing in that contract will prevent any Canadian of any religion or nationality from working on those planes, flying them or being part of our Canadian Forces program related to that aircraft.

Was it because you were not informed about your file, or because you did not understand the process? At this time, not only has the contract been drafted and signed, but ITAR is being applied. Unfortunately, given that this is a direct commercial sale, which means that it is a direct transaction between the Canadian government and Boeing, we will be faced with an unsolvable problem because two countries are involved.

Why did you not arrange for a foreign military sale, or sign a memorandum to protect Canada above all, its sovereignty, and its Charter of Rights and Freedoms? Why do we have to apply ITAR, and are you being forced to negotiate after the fact?

[Michael Fortier]

You have asked—

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Make it a short response, please, if you can.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Take your time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

No, we're out of time. We'll have to move on, unless you have just a short response.

[Michael Fortier]

Well, how short is a short time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

We'll go on; maybe he'll ask that in the second round.

[Michael Fortier]

Like his colleagues last week, he's mixing up a number of issues.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rick Casson]

Mr. Crête.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Good morning, Mr. Minister. In your statement you said that:

Under the Defence Production Act, the Minister of Public Works and Government Services has exclusive authority to procure military goods.

You also said the following:

In short, while DND has the authority to decide "what" it needs, the responsibility for contracting for those needs rests with PWGSC.

With this in mind, when the press conference was held at Trenton regarding the C-17s, you were unable to say how this contract had been allocated in Canada. That was several weeks ago.

Could you tell us about the spinoffs of this contract?

[Michael Fortier]

When you refer to Trenton, do you mean last summer—

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

No. I am talking about the notice of the press conference.

[Michael Fortier]

It was held here. We were supposed to be in Trenton. You are talking about the notice for the press conference.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Yes, I am.

[Michael Fortier]

We were clear about this matter. I think that the Minister of Industry will appear before your committee next week. It would be better to direct this question to him. We said that we wanted to have economic spinoffs. We want $1 to come back to Canada for each dollar awarded to a foreign company. This was not so in the past, as you know.

Our aerospace industry, everywhere in Canada, needs a shot in the arm. Billions of dollars of military contracts have been announced for the coming years. Of course, these are major industrial investments, and the Canadian aerospace industry will benefit from them.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Minister, could you tell us how the spinoffs from the Boeing contract are being shared among the provinces or the regions of Canada?

[Michael Fortier]

No.