Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to remind the House that, on October 1, 1998, I asked a question of the Minister of Industry concerning the dramatic layoff of 900 workers at Pratt & Whitney, 500 of them engineers in its R&D units. The other employees involved were also high-ranking employees.
Why was this? Because of federal government underfunding of its Technology Partnerships Canada program. I asked the minister whether he understood that this situation affects not only high-ranking employees, but also the lead role of Quebec and Canada in the aerospace industry.
Speaking after colleagues who showed just how drastic the unemployment situation is, I know that when I say that the government must fund the Technology Partnerships Canada program—as I said in another question—at least to the $100 million level, this is because high-level jobs are a guarantee for the future, for the economy. These are jobs which will get the economy moving.
The government is getting criticism from both sides. Its strategy is the opposite of what it should be. It makes no sense to penalize the unemployed and make workers earning up to $39,000 and especially the SMBs employing them pay, as it does, through excessive contributions. The big companies pay less.
On the other hand, however, it makes no sense not to give big business, including the aerospace industry, the instruments they need to be competitive, if there are to be high level jobs.
Technology Partnerships Canada is not a funding program. It funds itself from the return. When research and development has become a cost effective product, it funds itself out of royalties. That is why we support it. It is not a funding program.
This program provides for the financing of research and development in strategic areas like aerospace, where Quebec has a small lead, followed by Ontario. This is an area that creates many jobs, one which is growing three times faster than this country's GDP, and where the industry, Pratt & Whitney in particular, goes significantly further than many businesses, not only in this area but also in others, investing 20% of its turnover. This cannot last.
But the competition is heavily subsidized, directly or indirectly, through DND contracts among other things. The same is true of the United States, which has resulted in engineering positions moving south of the border. This is to say that we are very concerned with the drop in the share of added income in sales.
Canada is facing a productivity crisis. This is not the way to go about resolving it. Let us not forget the unemployed in all this.