Mr. Speaker, this gives me the chance to speak about the excellent motion from the Bloc Québécois, who only wants to defend the interests of Quebeckers here, in Ottawa. The aerospace industry is one of the flagships of the Quebec economy. Today, there are headlines stating that “The Aerospace Industry is Angry“. The members from the Bloc Québécois are also angry. Of course, our aim is to defend the interests of Quebeckers. What is disappointing is that some of our colleagues from Quebec were sent here, but do not share our goal.
I will take the time to read what representatives from the aerospace industry were saying this morning. I am quoting from an article from the March 1, 2007 issue of Le Devoir:
The Quebec aerospace companies simply cannot fathom the attitude of the Prime Minister's government regarding the economic spinoffs from military contracts. According to the Quebec Aerospace Association, the province should receive 55% of the $9.2 billion spinoffs announced by the Minister of Industry. Jobs are at stake if the government does not protect the Quebec industry, says the association.
“The federal government has a responsibility. It cannot wash its hands of it and tell people to fend for themselves. If it continues along this path, we will have to fight”, said Sue Dabrowski, general director of the Quebec Aerospace Association, which represents the 230 businesses in this sector, as she was interviewed by Le Devoir.
I will read other excerpts from that article, but this gives a good indication of the Conservative Party syndrome, which wants to invest in the military at all costs because, as a minority government, it cannot do as it pleases. It does not understand that Canadians and Quebeckers wanted to monitor its actions. That is the purpose of electing a minority government: to put it under close scrutiny. The Conservatives took advantage of the situation, not to listen to the public but, rather, to put forward their warlike, aggressive, American inspired, George W. Bush type and Republican oriented program. They tried to quickly award all the military contracts. They are buying aircraft, helicopters and tanks as quickly as possible. Other announcements will surely be made, because they are swimming in money. These announcements will not be about solving social and economic problems, or about health issues affecting Canadians and Quebeckers, but about achieving their warrior's objective, about creating one of the world's biggest military force, when we never even had a debate in this House to define the Canadian army's objectives.
As I mentioned earlier, since Lester B. Pearson, Canada has been much more involved in peacekeeping missions, in assisting communities, than in fighting at the front, as is currently the case in Afghanistan. This is the direction chosen by the Conservatives and it forces them to invest quickly, to award contracts to friends of friends, instead of calling for tenders. We know, and this is no secret because it was in the media, that the C-17 is at the end of its useful life. In order for Boeing to develop a new aircraft, contracts should have been awarded to the industry, to allow it to continue its work until a new technology is developed. Instead, it is Canada that will support Boeing's industries and the U.S. industry. The problem is that there was no call for tenders. What is tragic here is that, because of this warlike eagerness on the part of the government, the Quebec aerospace industry, which accounts for about 60% of the whole aerospace industry, is not getting the spinoffs to which it is entitled, because Boeing's investments in Canada are in Ontario and in western Canada.
Today, the government is sending its ministers from Quebec to sing their old tune and try to make people understand that it is confident. I can still hear the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities saying that the government is hopeful the Canadian industry will be able to do it, that it is strong and powerful. True, except that, in armed forces contracts, WTO standards do not have to be met and they can choose where to invest.
The American government has been doing so for many years. It chooses its investments and where in the United States the plants will be located and built. It negotiates with the industry.
However, this Conservative government was too much in a hurry, because it did not want to be scrutinized. As we say, it wanted to do its nasty deeds quickly. This is what it did. It went ahead with its procurement immediately, fearing it would be defeated in the next election and be kicked out. It wanted to achieve its belligerent objectives and follow in the footsteps of George Bush and the American Republicans, all this at the expense of Quebec's aerospace industry. This is the reality. I am not making this up.
Nor is it my colleague who so brilliantly moved this motion today on behalf of the Bloc Québécois who is saying this. The newspaper Le Devoir says that the aerospace industry is furious. The government has a duty to consolidate the industry in Quebec.
There are 230 companies in this sector. In my riding of Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, there is a sizeable cluster of them. Why so many in Mirabel? In part, because of the Mirabel fiasco, that white elephant airport that is no more. In fact, the terminal building is going to be converted to a tourist attraction with an aquarium and a wave pool. I see smiles on some faces, but there is nothing to smile about. The complex will be called AeroDream. The airport will be turned into a recreational water and tourist attraction. That is the use that ADM—Aéroports de Montréal, the administration of the two airports—has come up with. This is a far newer terminal than the one at Pierre-Elliot-Trudeau international airport—formerly Dorval. The former Mirabel will be turned into a tourism and recreation attraction. So it makes sense for this region to take charge of its own future.
I agree with my colleague, the Minister of Transport, that industrial clusters had indeed been developed during the Liberals' watch, but the international trade zone, the famous tax credits to attract the aerospace cluster, are the work of Bernard Landry. They are an example that is cited world-wide. The Government of Quebec attracted the businesses with its tax dollars, not the federal government.
When the Liberals were in power, the federal government kept trying to sell us on the idea that the airport would be developed. They were trying to find a wholly new way of doing so. But it was the Government of Quebec that took the initiative and located a cluster of aerospace industries at Mirabel: Bombardier, Bell Helicopter, Messier-Dowty, L-3 Communications and lots of other small and medium sized businesses, joined together to form the cluster.
The problem lies with the fact that so far the contracts announced by the Conservative government have not resulted in any visible spinoffs for companies in this industry, because some of them are competitors with Boeing and Boeing is the one making the decisions. The government knew that. It could not have known when it purchased the famous C-17s without a call for tenders. The same goes, of course, for the Boeing Chinook. If the government buys Chinooks from Boeing, it will not be buying helicopters from the Bell Helicopter consortium. It was well aware, when making these investments, that they were not going to Quebec.
The notion of industrial clusters often implies that parts manufacturers set up shop in the neighbourhood of major manufacturers. If the product is not entirely built in a given region, then the benefits of the industrial cluster model can only be partial. In this case, industrial clusters in Ontario and Western Canada will benefit from the contract. Why are Quebeckers making this an issue? Because they pay 25% of the taxes, including 25% of the income tax.
Near Mirabel there is a city called Boisbriand. A few years ago, GM closed the plant in Boisbriand, their only plant left in Quebec. At that time, the federal government stated that Quebec had the aerospace industry and that Ontario had the automobile industry. None of the parties in the House stood up for Quebec—not the NDP, nor the Conservatives nor the Liberals. There was no harm done to Ontario, so no one stood up for Quebec. Everybody said that Quebec had the aerospace industry. Today, the Quebec aerospace industry is under attack.
Of course, once again, this is hard to swallow for our aerospace industry. “The industry is angry”, said a headline in Le Devoir this morning. Bloc Québécois members, who represent the interest of Quebeckers, and who are the only ones to represent them well, are also angry about that decision by the Conservatives, which will seriously harm the industry's development. Securing contracts is not the only issue.
The minister is absolutely right in saying that there will be spinoffs. There will be some, but we want him to invest dollar for dollar. This has to do with new technology. The problem is that new technology will not be coming to Quebec. The sad truth, in fact, is that new technology will not benefit those industrial clusters already established in Quebec.
Of course, we know that the situation has improved since the Bloc Québécois has started to make representations in the House. It has risen from 20% to 30%. However, no official announcement has been made. Those are the numbers that we have been given. We will add them up. We want to reassure the people of Quebec that we will defend their interests. We will get the real figures. We will obtain the real data and we will follow this issue because we are concerned with the interests of Quebeckers and of the aerospace industry, which is one of the greatest achievements of Quebec's economy and of Canada's as well.
Of course, we have to fight for it tooth and nail. However, the government finds itself in a bad position because it has awarded untendered contracts to companies that do almost no business in Quebec. Such is the reality today.
My colleague noted that in Quebec, since the start of the election campaign, the premier and the parties seem to agree on requesting 50% of the economic benefits. We see that Mr. Charest is requesting less than the representative portion, but at least he is asking for 50%. He somehow took a stand. He stopped kneeling and crawling. Actually, he managed to request 50%. That is what the newswire says.
However, we have to be able to defend the interest of Quebeckers. It is disappointing to see Mr. Charest capitulate and give up 4% or 5% in this way. But he is still asking for 50%.
What is even worse is to see that the Conservative and Liberal MPs from Quebec are not standing up for this industry. That is unbelievable. They are defending the pride of Quebec's economy and almost accusing us, the Bloc Québécois, of defending Quebec's industry.
In the meantime, as long as we are here, we still pay 25% of the taxes.
I was surprised earlier to hear the Minister of Transport talk about hydroelectricity. Hydroelectricity, the other leading industry in Quebec, was paid for by Quebeckers themselves, without a cent of federal money. I can tell my colleagues that Quebec got exactly nothing. The government paid for all the development in the oil industry in my colleagues' ridings. The federal government put $66 billion into the oil and nuclear industry for light and heat. Quebec did not even get 5¢. We did not ask the government for anything, because we could do it ourselves.
The problem is that, at a certain point, enough is enough. We deserve a return on our investment, because we paid 25% of the $66 billion the government invested in energy in other provinces, while we invested our own money in our own energy, without a cent of federal money. Today, we refuse to be told in this House that we cannot defend the aerospace industry.
This has to stop. The Conservatives are making Quebeckers angry. As the saying goes, let sleeping dogs lie, but this is not what the government is doing. And the Conservatives will suffer the consequences. The fact is that since 1993, the Bloc Québécois has represented the majority of Quebeckers in this House. Quebeckers are not happy with how you have treated Quebec. And Quebeckers will not be any happier when they read headlines in Le Devoir such as “Aerospace Industry Enraged”. That is the reality. It may be a hard thing for my colleague from Lévis—Bellechasse to hear, but that is the reality.
Clearly, we have to be able to defend Quebeckers' interests. When Quebec accounts for 60% of Canada's aerospace industry, we have to make sure that 60% of the spinoffs from Government of Canada investments come to Quebec. That is why we are asking all parties to do a little soul searching, think about what they have done for Quebec in recent years, and understand that it might be time for the aerospace industry to get its fair share of the pot. As the Minister of Transport said earlier, we have to keep on hoping.
We must hope that the Quebec aerospace industry will prosper and get its fair share. We know it is strong.
Knowing in advance where the equipment will be built makes it hard to show how strong we are. We know that Boeing does not have any facilities in Quebec and that all of its facilities are in Ontario and western Canada. That makes it difficult for Quebec to get contracts to build these planes. The Conservative government chose to give the contract to Boeing knowing that the investments would go to Ontario and western Canada. It also chose to say “yes” to George W. Bush, who simply wanted to strengthen his aerospace industry with Boeing. That is where we are at today.
The members of the Bloc Québécois will never stop. We will never shy away from rising in this House. We were elected by the same people as all of our charming colleagues in this House, regardless of the province they come from. We are not shy. As long as Quebeckers pay 24% of sales and income taxes in this country, we will have the right to rise in this House and demand that Quebec get what it deserves, which is its share of the aerospace industry and a share of the construction that is proportional to its industry's presence in Canada, that is, about 60% of the industry. It is as simple as that.
We can still be friends, but we would sure like our colleagues to understand us and vote for our motion. This is not a plea from the Bloc Québécois; it is a plea from the entire aerospace industry, which was enraged this morning. For those who have trouble understanding, it is on page 15 of the Quorum, of which we all have a copy. There are copies here in front. The article is in French and it is entitled “Aerospace Industry Enraged—Federal government must strengthen the industry in Quebec”.
I will also reread the excerpt that includes Ms. Dabrowski's statement:
“The federal government has a responsibility. It cannot just wash its hands and say, 'Sort this out yourselves'. If it keeps on like this, it will have a fight on its hands”, Sue Dabrowski told Le Devoir. Ms. Dabrowski is director general of the Quebec Aerospace Association, which represents 230 companies in the sector.
The article goes on to say:
Ms. Dabrowski said that the Minister of Industry's comments came as no surprise because her association has not yet been able to meet with the minister despite the fact that it represents all of the aerospace industry players in the province, from the smallest to the biggest. “I am very disappointed. I still hope to meet with him and tell him that there are problems with the process. We have to work as a team”.
The Quebec aerospace industry representative cannot meet with the Minister of Industry, who is from Quebec. I have seen people do all kinds of things to keep their jobs or their portfolios. Since 1982, I have been involved in politics at many levels. Not meeting with an industry representative who speaks for 230 companies is unheard of. The minister should at least have the decency to pick up the phone, meet with Ms. Dabrowski and the industry representatives, who are enraged and who want their share of the market. Moreover, as a minister from Quebec, if he cares at all about defending the interests of Quebeckers, the Minister of Industry should at least have the decency to meet with Ms. Dabrowski and her association. He probably threw everything in the garbage because he did not feel like seeing them, so I will repeat the name of the association: the Quebec Aerospace Association.
The name speaks for itself. The association represents 230 companies in the sector and as a Quebecker, the Minister of Industry should stand up and tell his leader that he wants to meet with people from the industry, that he is a Quebecker and that he wants to listen to them and report what they have to say. That would be the very least he could do and it would show that one does not always have to grovel and serve to keep a job. The minister can stand tall, rise up, go see his leader and tell him that he will meet with Ms. Dabrowski. Then everyone would be happy, especially the people in the industry. As for us, we would be really happy to see some headline other than “Aerospace Industry Enraged”. If the Conservative members want to fix that, they can vote for my Bloc Québécois colleague's motion.
