National Defence Committee on Sept. 15th, 2010

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to the witnesses. We are really pleased to have you here today.

My question, through the chair, is first of all to Mr. Bertrand.

You did talk about Pratt & Whitney Canada and some of the engine work they are doing for the company out of the U.S. I wonder if you could describe the engine technology developments that these engines have and how they've made them so much more reliable.

[J. Richard Bertrand]

Sure. As a matter of fact, I just want to give you this—through the chair—to be able to respond.

For instance, with the rotor blade that we talked about, that unit that we've been able to take, research, and so on, what we have been able to do at Pratt & Whitney Canada with our centre of excellence on this is actually take a part that would normally be 100 separate pieces and actually create a machine and build that one part that replaces 100 parts. You can imagine that in a new engine, for future technology, if you are able to take that many parts and put them into one, you have so much less opportunity for difficulties. It is the same thing for servicing and for following up.

Does that answer your question?

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Yes, it does.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Bryon Wilfert]

Mr. Payne, you have about a minute.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Again to Mr. Bertrand, I have a couple of quick things. First of all, you talked about having an opportunity to potentially sell parts to 3,000 or 5,000 aircraft around the world, depending upon how many are built. How important is that to your company here in Canada, as well as with other contracts that you might be able to give to other Canadian companies?

As a second question, you mentioned that the uncertainty would give other countries a bigger advantage than Canada.

Could you just touch on those two for me? Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Bryon Wilfert]

And it will be touching on them, because there are 25 seconds left.

[J. Richard Bertrand]

Chair, let me deal with that last issue quickly.

What happens is that the train has left the station around the world in terms of being able to produce for the joint strike fighter. There are contracts signed on an ongoing basis. The fact is that when there is uncertainty in a situation, that could cause difficulty.

In the case of Pratt & Whitney, we already have a relationship, but if there is not a joint strike fighter acquisition, that relationship might be narrowed and opportunity given to another country.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Bryon Wilfert]

Thank you, Mr. Bertrand and Mr. Payne.

Mr. Laframboise, you have two minutes and 30 seconds.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Lajeunesse and Mr. Bertrand, you're asking us to support this entire program without giving us any guarantees. As you know, 55% of the industry is in Quebec. I am lucky to have Pratt & Whitney Canada in my riding. Although you have no qualms about competing globally with the other companies, you asked for more transparency.

Are other governments pressuring you? Mr. Bertrand, you have negotiated all your preparations and research with the Americans. You might have done the work. Have you been pressured or, with all your companies being spread around the world, do you feel comfortable distributing any work you want to your companies in different countries?

[J. Richard Bertrand]

I'll answer you as the representative of Pratt & Whitney Canada. This is an independent company. The headquarters are in Hartford. What we want is to help Pratt & Whitney Canada everywhere in the world.

You're asking me if there is pressure on Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney Canada and other companies. There is pressure because these companies are equally active in those countries. These countries are doing the same thing as you are doing for them. I have no doubts that the Department of National Defence wants to be sure before buying those planes. The other countries are doing the same thing.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Do they require signed contracts? Do you know anything about that, even though you're focusing on Canada?

[J. Richard Bertrand]

Personally, I can only answer for what our company does in Canada. I'm not sure whether Mr. Kalil has more information on the topic.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Lajeunesse, do you have any comments on your discussions with aerospace organizations from other countries?

[Claude Lajeunesse]

I think Mr. Bertrand was accurate in saying that all countries and all defence ministries try to obtain the maximum benefits. We are confident that we can compete because of the quality of our companies, their innovation and the fact that they are already successful. In fact, 80% of what we build in Canada is exported. In my opinion, that's a guarantee for the future.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Great, thank you.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Is there some time left, Mr. Chair?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Bryon Wilfert]

No, that's it, Mr. Bachand. I know you're concerned about the time, and so am I.

Mr. Braid, you have two and a half minutes.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

This is still the lightning round? I look forward to the daily double, whenever that comes up.

I'll start with a question for both Monsieur Kalil and Monsieur Bertrand. Could you let the committee know how many jobs at your respective companies this contract has already created or will create in the next two to five years?

[Paul Kalil]

Mr. Chair, we have to date in the order of 30 positions related to this contract. They have been working on this in preparation for this. We expect ultimately, on the specific work statement, to have between 50 and 70 positions involved.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Bryon Wilfert]

Monsieur Bertrand, would you like to add something?

[J. Richard Bertrand]

I apologize, I don't have that number; otherwise, I'd be pleased to answer.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Very good.

Monsieur Lajeunesse, you spoke about the very effective public-private partnership between industry and government that has existed with respect to this initiative, really for years. Do you have any insight as to how our process has compared in Canada to any of the other eight partner countries, and whether our process has been just as good, superior, or whether there's room for improvement? Do you have any thoughts or insight as you compare our process to the other eight countries?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Bryon Wilfert]

Mr. Lajeunesse.

[Claude Lajeunesse]

My understanding is that all the partner countries follow the same process.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Bryon Wilfert]

You have about 40 seconds.