Transport Committee on Aug. 1st, 2025

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Minister.

Next we'll go to Ms. Nguyen.

Ms. Nguyen, the floor is yours. You have six minutes.

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Hello, Minister Freeland, and hello to my colleagues. Thanks, everyone, for being here for an important conversation.

Minister, let me start by saying that my riding is home to key transport corridors. Our community knows that Canada-first procurement is all about ensuring that federal dollars can support Canadian workers, Canadian steel and Canadian infrastructure that will benefit local communities. You were made aware of this issue. You started to share a little bit of detail in your opening remarks about the steps. Could you explain to us and to Canadians watching at home some of the steps you took to address this issue around making sure that we were showing up as Canada first?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Thank you very much, Ms. Nguyen, and congratulations on your pretty recent election.

You and I were in your riding together this morning. It is indeed a place where transport infrastructure is important. This may be an opportunity for me to offer a quick shout-out to the excellent airport you and I both used to get to Ottawa today: the island airport, or Billy Bishop airport. It's an example of how important good transport infrastructure is.

As we've been discussing, I am disappointed with this procurement. I think that is a view shared by all members of this committee. My view is that this needs to serve as a wake-up call, and what we need to do is work very hard to ensure that we are buying Canadian. Where we have major procurement, we need to work hard to ensure that we're using Canadian steel, Canadian aluminum and Canadian lumber.

There are two very specific steps that I've taken to make that a reality.

First of all, I've sent out a letter. There are actually 71 letters, and we worked on them together. They were sent to all of the entities that are under the control of Transport Canada, making it clear to them, in writing, my expectation that they will put a priority on Canadian jobs and Canadian workers. In that letter, I specifically instructed them to focus on using Canadian steel, Canadian aluminum and Canadian lumber.

I want to emphasize that point. These are absolutely essential sectors of the Canadian economy, and we—collectively, as a country—need to be finding projects to use that steel, aluminum and lumber here in Canada.

The second thing I've done—and this is really important—is convene two meetings. One is for the shipbuilding and ferry-operating sector. We'll have the federal government, provincial representatives, shipbuilders, publicly and privately owned ferry operators, labour and the steel sector, in particular. We're going to work together and talk about what we need to do to ensure that, going forward, we are making decisions that support our shipbuilding sector and our steel sector.

We are going to be doing the same thing with the major rail operators when it comes to light rail. I had a conversation today with Rob Prichard about ways in which the high-speed rail project can be one that fills up the order books of our steelmakers going forward. I also spoke to the CEO of a steel company this morning about exactly that issue, as well as the issue of ferries.

We should use this committee meeting to look ahead and say this is a moment when, as a country, we have an opportunity to help ourselves. It's going to take a lot of hard work. I think it's work that is very important to do.

[Chi Nguyen, Liberal, Spadina—Harbourfront, ON]

Thank you.

I'll keep this one brief.

Some things we are seeing in our economy are challenges around youth unemployment and access to great jobs. Can you tell me a bit about how taking a buy Canada approach through this work will help us on those fronts?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Absolutely.

These areas we're talking about, whether they're shipbuilding, the rail sector, steel, aluminum or lumber, are industries that provide great jobs for Canadians. They are quite literally engines of our economy. It is essential that we maintain the jobs we have now and that we continue to provide opportunities for young Canadians.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Minister.

Thank you, Ms. Nguyen.

Our next speaker is Mr. Barsalou‑Duval.

You have six minutes.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for joining us today at this important meeting.

Last June 2, the Minister of Industry, Mélanie Joly, said that Ottawa was committed to using Canadian steel and aluminum for its national infrastructure and defence projects. Those announcements flooded the media. She toured a large number of steel mills across the country, with lots of photos and press conferences along the way.

Two weeks later, we found out that the Canada Infrastructure Bank had provided $1 billion to have ships built at a Chinese shipyard, by Chinese workers and using Chinese steel, but paid for with Canadian money.

In your opinion, has your government betrayed Canadian steelworkers?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Thank you for your question.

As I said at the beginning of my remarks, I am deeply disappointed by this decision.

In my opinion, this is a critical moment in time for Canada and Quebec, and our government must support our steel, aluminum and softwood lumber sectors because they are under attack.

I'm also in the process of making—

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

You say you're disappointed, Minister, but it was your government that made this decision. So you're disappointed in your government's actions. Is that what you're saying?

I would agree with you. However, I want to clearly understand your position. You're the one in charge, so you're disappointed in yourself? That seems a strange answer and a bit glib.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

No, I reject the suggestion that my answer is glib.

As I said in my speech, the agency in question is not part of the federal government. I know that the Bloc Québécois understands the importance of provincial jurisdictions, and we need to be mindful of the division of federal and provincial jurisdictions.

However, I share the concern—

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Considering that federal funds are being invested in this project, I'm sure you can understand that workers feel betrayed.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

I understand and I share that concern, That's why, as Minister of Transport and Internal Trade, I'm doing everything in my power to put Canadian workers, including workers in the aluminum, steel and softwood lumber sectors, first.

As I've already explained, I've written—

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Okay.

I have another question for you.

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

—a letter to each agency that I'm inviting to attend.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

You said so a few times, though.

In the letter you wrote to B.C.'s minister of transportation and transit, Mike Farnworth, you raised concerns about security risks. You also asked him to confirm that no federal funding would be used for ferry procurement. However, we don't know happened after that letter was sent.

Did you receive a reply to your letter?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

We are having good discussions with the province of British Columbia.

I'm here as the Minister of Transport and Internal Trade, and I can tell you that I received assurances that Transport Canada's funding would go to British Columbia exclusively to support travellers. That's why we're providing this funding, which will be used just to—

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

I understand that you received these assurances regarding Transport Canada. However, your letter stated that no federal funding should be used for ferry procurement, and that this was not limited to Transport Canada.

I assume you wrote that letter unaware that a portion of this federal funding would be used to build ferries in China.

I would therefore like to know, first of all, why were you not aware of this funding, and second, when did you find out about it?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Again, I am here as Canada's Minister of Transport and Internal Trade, and as such, I am doing everything in my power to support workers in the steel, aluminum, and softwood lumber sectors.

I sent a letter with very specific instructions to all of the agencies under my authority. I'm in the process of convening a meeting with stakeholders to support shipbuilders—

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

So you ministers don't talk to each other about decisions, upcoming announcements or major investments? There's no back and forth among the ministers, no discussion at the Council of Ministers?

I'm a bit surprised that, just a few weeks after I requested confirmation that no federal funds would be spent on this project, we heard that the project would receive federal money after all. It seems to me that something went wrong.

Is there no coordination between departments? You don't talk to each other. Is that it?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

As I said, as far as my jurisdictional powers go, I think that prioritizing the steel, aluminum and softwood lumber sectors is very important.

It's fine to talk about making these critical sectors a priority. Now, it's time to do the work needed to get us there. That's what I'm doing in the ship and rail sectors.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval.

Next we'll go to Mr. Lawrence.

Mr. Lawrence, the floor is yours for five minutes, sir.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for being here.

I want to just take a moment and think about the folks who are struggling right now. There will be husbands or wives who go home to their kids this evening who say, “You know what? We were expecting to go to hockey this year. We can't.” There will be workers who go home and say, “We can't make the mortgage payment this week because of the tariffs that were imposed.” There was an opportunity for this government to give relief to some of those families—families in British Columbia, in Quebec, and elsewhere. There was an opportunity to have really a generational investment that would have given jobs for years, if not decades, to families. That didn't happen, because of your government.

Now you say you're dismayed. You have consternation. You have 71 letters that are out there. Will any of those letters provide any relief to the families I've been talking about?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

Yes, absolutely they will. I want to thank you for the way you framed the issue, because I am so concerned about the workers in our steel sector, in our aluminum sector and in softwood lumber. These are very important Canadian industries. I've spent a lot of time in steel mills, in aluminum smelters and in pulp mills. When we fought the section 232 tariffs in 2018, we worked really hard with steel and aluminum, so I know who you're talking about. I think that we as Canadians need to recognize that these essential industries, and the people who work there—often generations of families working there—are under attack. They need our support.

That's what I'm working hard to do. These 71 letters to the agencies I control are about saying this to them: When you are looking at your procurement, you need to put a priority on Canadian manufacturing jobs, steel, aluminum and softwood. I want to point to this meeting that we're going to hold with the shipbuilders, with steel and aluminum and with the ferry operators.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Clarke, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

The reality, though, is that the dismay and the consternation and the letters won't put food on the table of our aluminum and steel workers. The contract with BC Ferries could have done just that.

I want to get into the facts. Will you call today, unequivocally, for the cancelling of the CIB, Canada Infrastructure Bank, loan that underpins this contract between BC Ferries and the Chinese shipyard? Will you call for it?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, University—Rosedale, ON]

You know that I have a lot of respect for you, but I disagree that instructing all the Transport Canada agencies to procure from Canada won't help. Of course it will help. This means that, going forward, they will be using steel, using aluminum and using lumber.

The meetings of the shipbuilders and of the rail sector are really significant. For example, speaking this morning with John McCarthy, the CEO of Seaspan, we had a very substantive conversation about what it will take for him and his workers to be able to build ferries for Canada and what it will take for them to use Canadian steel. I congratulated him on an MOU that he signed with Algoma in the middle of July to use Canadian steel in icebreakers.

This is the kind of work we need to do—