The hon. member is familiar with the story. It does end with a Firebird. So, we leave the show room. My dad tells me that is not how to do things. When a person has a particular car in mind, he absolutely must not say so, because that will mean he will not get a good deal. He has to visit all the dealers and look at comparable cars, then come back to the first and look at another car before coming back to the first one. That puts you in a position to negotiate, and that is what I did. I did not buy the Camaro. I got a Firebird. It was just as nice and I got a good deal. I paid a lot less because I told the salesman that if he did not offer me a certain price, the other dealer might.
The same thing goes for the planes. It is the same thing in the contract clauses we have before us. They are talking about an aircraft. The minute a company like Boeing is told we want only them, and that after-sale maintenance will also be done only by them, there is no bargaining power left. That is what I think.
In fact, I wrote an article about this lately in the Frontline Magazine. To me, the way this is done is not acceptable. Canadian taxpayers do not get their money's worth when people act this way.
I explained the first step of the selection process, the first filter, when the Department of National Defence defines its specifications. Then, the Department of Public Works gives out the contracts the way I just mentioned. Finally, to top it all, the Minister of Industry comes in with his disappointing approach for Quebec.
Everybody thought: “Our Minister of Industry comes from Quebec. Our Minister of Public Works is also from Quebec.” He sits somewhere else—I cannot mention where— in the other place. People thought: “They will speak up for us.” But suddenly, we learn that, although we have 60% of the aerospace industry, things will not happen this way. The free market prevails. Since when do they have to play by the free market rules when they are the ones signing the cheques? Since when can the car salesman say: “That is not the car I want to sell you, I want you to buy another one”? I would tell him: “I am the one signing the cheque, so I get to decide what I am buying”.
This is completely illogical. We said to Boeing: “You can do it where you want, when you want and the way you want.” I will explain later how I see this.
I cannot fathom that ministers from Quebec went to Trenton to sign a contract that was so unfair to Quebec, their native land. This is why we, sovereigntists, consider that the system is not working. This is why I say that the Quebec industry is better served by the Bloc Québécois, not by the Liberal Party nor the Conservative Party, who are stuck with a pan-Canadian vision and must satisfy people from British Columbia and Alberta.
We are having the wool pulled over our eyes. And the industry also told me that on July 31. The purchase is 100% aerospace product, but it is to have only 60% aerospace content. Why? What about the rest of the 100%, the missing 40%? Are we going to sell them northern spruce, or Atlantic salmon, to make high tech airplanes? We should have had 100% aerospace spinoffs, as the industry told me. Not only should we have had 100% aerospace for Quebec, but the geographic distribution of the industry in Canada, and the concentration of the industry in Quebec, should have been taken into account.
I went to the Ritz-Carlton when Boeing decided to go on a cross-Canada tour to decide whom it would be doing business with. Naturally, the president of Boeing Canada took me to the royal suite at the Ritz-Carlton to introduce me to the people from Seattle who are in charge of economic spinoffs. I told him: “We are not satisfied with it being only 60% aerospace, in terms of your obligation. Sixty per cent of the industry is in Quebec.” So by my calculations, 60% of 60% would give us at least 36% of the contracts in Quebec. But that was not quite the case.
Looking a little farther, in my research, I learned that they have operations in Winnipeg and British Columbia, very close to Seattle where Boeing is located. So they probably said to themselves: “There is no point in doing business in Quebec, it is too far away for us.” The company's interests came well ahead of geographic distribution, with the government's approval, which is even worse.
The government could have said: “We are the ones signing the cheque, so we are going to tell you exactly whom you will do business with. You are going to take Quebec into account, where 60% of the industry is. You are going to give them their rightful share.” But it did not happen that way and it seems that the same will be true for the rest of the contracts.
Our two ministers from Quebec went to sign the contract in Trenton, and $3.4 billion went up in smoke—$3.4 billion in Quebec and Canadian taxpayers' dollars that is going to the United States, with no guarantee of spinoffs in Canada and Quebec.
There are other contracts planned for the Chinook helicopters, also from Boeing, also awarded by untendered contract. This means losing bargaining leverage. The contract is for $4.7 billion. There is another contract for $4.9 billion for tactical aircraft, from Lockheed Martin, in the United States.
There is a $3 billion contract for search and rescue planes, as well. All this is in the works. Meanwhile, the minister steps into the lobby and tells the press that things are going to work just as they did for the first contract. Boeing is told, “do whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want”. I would also like to explain that. Why did I say “wherever, whenever and however you want”?
With regards to “however you want”, there is a program in the United States called ITAR, International Traffic in Arms Regulation. The United States is telling Canadian companies they cannot fill production, support or service positions with anyone who comes from a list of 25 countries. These people cannot come anywhere near these machines.
Our response to these American companies is that we will tell our companies that if they have employees who come from Pakistan or Afghanistan, they will have to move them to another department because they cannot come into contact with the plane, even if they are accepted as Canadian citizens.
Thus, the expression “however you want” is exactly what Boeing is doing. As for “whenever you want,” any delay in delivery is supposed to incur penalties. A few weeks ago, Sikorski, the company tasked with building the maritime helicopter that will replace the Sea King, said that because of a strike in one of its plants in the United States, they will be five and a half weeks late. The penalty, however, is $100,000 per day the company is late. What did the government have to say about that? It said it was not serious and that it would turn a blind eye.
What signal does that send Boeing? “Whenever you want.” This means that if they are late and the contract provides for penalties for delays, Boeing will say that it does not matter since Sikorski was late and did not pay any penalty. So no more penalties will be paid. And then it told Boeing “wherever you want”. This is the equivalent of writing a cheque for $3.4 billion to Boeing and telling it to do whatever it wants. I do not understand this. I am a sovereignist. I have said so and explained why earlier. This type of issue reinforces my political position. Sovereignty is not just in Quebec. There is also Canadian sovereignty.
How can we give our aerospace future away to the Americans and tell them to do whatever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want and however they want? How can we say that this is right? This is what makes us think there was probably some political interference. There were probably some top-level agreements and of course no one wants to tell us about it. Maybe some matters were settled in exchange for purchases of planes, boats or trucks.
There are $20 billion worth. This file is completely backwards. Not only is the process not being respected, but the Canadian and Quebec taxpayers are being had, the Quebec industry is being had and, for some reason that is hard to explain, everyone is a loser in this file.
The Standing Committee on National Defence is currently working on breaking into the process. There is a select club. A group of individuals from National Defence and other departments have reached an agreement among themselves and parliamentarians are excluded from this group, which does not want anything to do with them. The Standing Committee on National Defence is currently working on this issue and will continue to do so, because such injustices are unacceptable to Canadian taxpayers and, in our opinion, the injustices for the Quebec industry are even less acceptable. I repeat, and will conclude on this, only the Bloc Québécois is currently defending the Quebec industry and it is proud to be doing so. This confirms us in our sovereignist position.