Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the comments made by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Minister for la Francophonie and Official Languages. I will be happy to explain fully to her the mysteries of life concerning the contracts we are talking about today.
First, I am very pleased that the Bloc Québécois has moved this motion, because I have been personally interested in this file for about eight months. I am also pleased that the Bloc Québécois has moved a motion in the Committee on National Defence to study the procurement process, and pleased as well that it is defending its territory, that is Quebec.
In this regard, I want to remind my colleagues—and I said so in committee—that only the Bloc Québécois will be defending Quebec here today.
The Parliamentary Secretary talked only about Canada. That is the problem with Canada, the problem with federal, federalist political parties: they are forced to defend the territory as a whole.
Liberals say this is an injustice for the Canadian industry, but why are they saying that? Because some of their members come from other regions, such as Winnipeg and British Columbia, where Boeing has facilities, and they are unable to say that they must defend Quebec, because 60% of the spinoffs should go to it. They say that it is not so bad if it does not get them. They use all the Canadian arguments: there must be Canadian spinoffs.
So I wanted to make it clear that only the Bloc Québécois is speaking up for Quebec's aerospace industry. I have heard no one else on this subject. Everyone is talking about Canadian spinoffs. We have nothing against that, as long as Quebec's share of the Canadian market, that is 60%, is taken into account.
I would also like to tell the House about the secret nature of all this. I was going on vacation in July when I turned on my computer. All the employees had left on vacation. That was when I saw on the Public Works and Government Services Canada website the Boeing bid submission for strategic aircraft, for the Chinook helicopters that also come from Boeing, and for tactical aircraft that come from Lockheed Martin. That is a lot of money. It was posted on the MERX site during the holidays, from July 5 to August 4.
So I phoned the big companies in Quebec. When we say that 60% of the aerospace industry is concentrated in Quebec, it is not small companies: Bell Helicopter, L3 Communications, Pratt & Whitney Canada, Bombardier, CMC Electronics, Rolls-Royce Canada, not to mention all the small and medium sized companies with aerospace connections. These are big players, and 60% of them are in Quebec.
I called them, therefore, and asked whether they had seen what was on the MERX site. They said that they had not seen anything. It was not only during the holidays but also during the Farnborough Air Show in Great Britain, a show like Le Bourget where the entire aerospace industry is present.
They wanted to put a fast one over on us. August 4 was the closing date. So I invited the companies and met with them on July 31. They told me then that something was wrong because they had not been informed that this was coming, they did not know anything about it, and their CEOs were all in Great Britain at the air show. They said that it was absolutely essential for me to defend the industry. In the middle of the summer, I sent out press releases saying that the industry was very concerned.
So now our fears are confirmed. They are saying that the benefits will be distributed all across Canada and no special consideration will be given to Quebec.
I wonder, though, what Ontario would say if there were an incredible tender from the federal government in the automobile industry and it wanted to give a large part of it to Quebec.
Everybody here would up in arms, saying that since most of the automobile industry—the critical mass, 70% of the Canadian automobile market—is located in Ontario, it should get 70% of the contracts. It is strange that this should still be the rule in the automobile industry, but when it comes to Quebec, another set of rules apply.
They are also starting to talk about dividing it up across Canada. The term in English is regional investment benefits, but now they have been talking for some time about Canadian investment benefits.
It is not regional anymore, it has become Canadian and that is an excuse to do anything.
Let us look at the way those contracts develop. I looked at the process. First, supposedly because of a defence policy, National Defence says what it needs to conform to that policy. Usually, before giving contracts, the department is supposed to produce a defence capability plan. If the government is satisfied with that plan, it buys the equipment needed to ensure the success of that plan.
But it is not how things went. The Liberals adopted a defence policy in 2005 and the Conservatives just extended it. All of a sudden, without any defence capability plan, the government spends an incredible $20 billion. Consideration must be given to the fact that parliamentarians are the true advocates of taxpayers but we have been completely excluded from the process. I will come back to that later.
When the Department of National Defence draws up its specifications or requirements list, it can get the aircraft it wants. It only has to say that it needs a plane that can lift 100,000 kg of cargo, knowing full well that only one plane can do that. With this requirement, it has eliminated all other planes.
Do the taxpayers get enough for their money when the Department of National Defence set its requirements according to the plane it wants? There is a first filter at that level and it has been applied. We can see that the department wants the C-17 and the Chinook by Boeing. In fact, the first contract has been signed.
Then, another department enters the game: Public Works Canada. That department has its own way of awarding contracts. As I saw last summer and as is being confirmed now, the department produces a draft contract award notice. That means that it wants a specific plane and a specific company to negotiate with, a specific company to service the plane and a specific company from which to buy the plane. That company name is written in the contract. That closes the door to all others.
This morning, the Auditor General appeared before the committee. She told us that she had already spoken out about the government's approach of using ACANs, which stands for advanced contract award notifications. The taxpayers are not getting their money's worth with that system.
All of a sudden, they choose just one plane. I will repeat the story I told in committee about buying my first car. The first car I wanted was a Camaro. I told my dad that was what I wanted and he said that was fine and that he would go along with me to see what kind of a deal I could negotiate. When I got to the place, I told the salesman that I wanted the car that was in the show room, that one and none other.
That is just like the ACAN I referred to.
The salesman agreed and asked if I wanted to know the price. Of course I did. He told me the price and I replied that I was prepared to take it. My father then told me that was not how things were done and that he would show me the ropes as soon as we left the show room.