Mr. Speaker, we make the best buses in the world right here in Canada, but when the military needed 30 new troop carrier buses, it gave the contract to a company in Germany. Why? Because the German bid was one-half of 1% lower than Motor Coach Industries in Winnipeg or Prévost Car Inc. in Quebec.
Canadian workers got screwed out of these jobs for less than $2,000 per bus on buses that cost $500,000 each to build. We sold out Canadian workers for less than the cost of a set of tires.
Now our tax dollars are creating jobs in Germany instead of in Winnipeg or Quebec. Now government will not get the tax revenue that would have paid for a quarter of the total purchase cost of the buses and, worst of all, this shortsighted stupidity sends a message to all of our NATO allies, “Hey, if you want to buy a really good troop carrier, buy German. That's what we did”.
We need a made in Canada procurement policy. If our own government will not stand up for Canadian manufacturing jobs, who will?