Madam President, I am pleased to speak today about opportunities for Canadian businesses.
On the subject of the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter aircraft, of course, the government's decision that it intended to acquire the 65 F-35s was announced on July 16. I was present, along with the Minister of National Defence and the Minister of Public Works and Government Services. It also goes without saying that this is the largest defence program ever undertaken, and certainly as Canada's Minister of Industry I can tell the House that Canada's aerospace sector is engaged.
However, the Liberal Party's position of scrapping the F-35 program does not help our men and women in uniform. It does not help the Canadian aerospace industry, which should benefit from this project for the next 45 years.
According to industry representatives, this position could, in fact, hurt the Canadian aerospace industry. This prospect has not stopped the Liberal Party from disregarding the facts and maintaining its partisan attitude.
The bottom line is that the F-35 is the right aircraft for the job and this is the right program to keep Canada at the forefront of the global aerospace and defence industry.
I will give a bit of background, if I might. In 1997, Canada signed on to an international consortium to develop the Lockheed Martin Lightning II, as it was then called. It did so after an exhaustive consideration of the alternatives for a CF-18 replacement at the end of this decade.
Our predecessors chose the Lightning because they believed it to be the best aircraft for Canada, a measure that we supported because it was and continues to be the right thing to do.
The F-35 is the single largest fighter aircraft program in history. This program is a multinational effort to build an affordable, multi-role and stealthy fighter aircraft. Total production may reach 5,000 aircraft worldwide.
The program is unique in terms of the access offered to Canadian industry to participate in the production and sustainment of this entire volume of aircraft.
Our government seeks to apply the most effective industrial benefits practices for its major defence procurements, as illustrated through the F-35 industrial participation model and as recently done through my updated IRB policy.
I can tell the House that we are committed to leveraging major investments in military equipment to encourage long-term industrial development and significant economic activity in Canada. Canada's early engagement on the F-35 has positioned Canadian industry for long-term work on the world's largest defence program.
The unique nature of the F-35 international co-operative development program required a different approach to industrial benefits. I think that is absolutely clear.
In order to facilitate the F-35 program's industrial participation approach, the federal government signed industrial participation plans with each of the F-35 prime contractors; that is Lockheed Martin, of course, but also Pratt & Whitney and the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team.
These agreements identify opportunities for Canadian companies to develop technologies for the JSF program, the F-35 program.
The plans also include strategic opportunities awarded to Canadian companies that are determined to offer best value to the program.
Canadian companies have demonstrated that they can offer best value to the F-35 program in these technology areas. Therefore, the F-35 primes, the prime contractors, were able to award work packages to Canadian firms.
The value of these potential benefits is regularly updated to reflect new opportunities that arise, and this will include future sustainment and follow-on development opportunities.
Thanks to Canada's early involvement in this program, Canadian firms have already benefited from long-lasting, high-quality business opportunities by direct involvement in the design of the F-35 parts and subsystems.
Early engagement has allowed our companies to build on Canadian strengths, as well as establish new strategic capabilities in Canada.
The scope of the opportunities is, of course, tremendous since Canadian companies will be able to provide products and services for not only Canada's fleet of 65 fighters, but also for the entire global F-35 value chain. As I mentioned, that translates to work involving as many as 5,000 aircraft that are expected to be built for customers around the world.
Of course, this opportunity will create jobs across our nation over the next 40 years. That is a whole career's worth of work for today's engineering graduates.
What is more, Canada is also well placed to benefit from future investments in areas such as maintenance, repair, training and simulation. Over the next four decades, Canadian companies will have the opportunity to export their expertise and contribute to the sustainment and operation of the thousands of aircraft that will be produced over the lifespan of the project.
In case, Madam Speaker, you are worried that all the benefits of our support of this program come only in the future, let me assure you that our investments have already paid dividends.
To secure our participation in the international partnership, approximately $168 million in payments have been made by the Government of Canada to the F-35 program. But as a result of our participation, more than $350 million in contracts have been awarded to Canadian companies, research laboratories and universities, even prior to making our intention to proceed.
That means we have already seen a two-to-one return on our investment, and that is just the beginning.
Currently, over 85 companies have identified industrial participation opportunities, and over 60 companies have confirmed contracts. Of course, these numbers are expected to grow by the time the F-35 enters full production in 2015.
It also should be noted that opportunities are expected to benefit small and medium-sized enterprises across our country, not just the large ones.
Under this program, Canadian industry has a unique opportunity to participate in the production and maintenance of this series of aircraft.
This is a large-scale initiative. Canadian businesses will have the opportunity to supply goods and services not only to the fleet of 65 fighter jets in Canada, but also to the entire global supply chain for the joint strike fighter.
As this represents up to 5,000 aircraft, jobs will be created and maintained throughout Canada during the expected 40-year life span of the F-35 aircraft.
The government's participation in the JSF program, the F-35 program, has led to real results, allowing Canada's world-class firms to create highly skilled, well-paying jobs for Canadians. I will give some examples.
This summer, Avcorp Industries of Delta, B.C. announced the signing of an agreement with BAE Systems for the production of carrier variant outboard wings for the F-35 commencing this year with potential deliveries through 2023. The hon. Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification was there for that announcement as well. According to Avcorp, this contract may result in the delivery of up to 340 shipsets of the outboard wings, representing in excess of $500 million in revenues over the 10 to 15 years of production and creating approximately 75 direct and indirect jobs.
Another example of a Canadian success story is Composites Atlantic of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. This company is manufacturing composite fuselage panels for the F-35. It has earned a reputation as a leader in the design, testing and manufacture of advance composites for a wide range of industries, including space, defence and commercial industries.
Yet another example is in Dorval, Quebec. Héroux Devtek Aerostructure Division has been awarded 43 different structural components, while the landing gear division in Longueuil, Quebec will have the responsibility for the engineering, development and manufacture for eight models of F-35 door lock assemblies.
In Winnipeg, Bristol Aerospace is producing horizontal tail components for the F-35. Bristol officials have said that employment at their company may increase by as many as 100 people as the contract awards grow. According to the company, $11 million has already been awarded and millions more are to come. Due to this success, Bristol has been working on a $120 million upgrade to its Winnipeg plant to prepare for the F-35 work.
The Prime Minister, the Minister of Public Safety and I visited the Bristol plant just last month. We met and shook hands with the exceptionally skilled and committed workers who work there on behalf of their company and on behalf of Canada as well. Indeed the women and men of Canada's aerospace industry are some of Canada's greatest strategic assets.
My colleagues and I have participated in other events across the country to highlight the benefits of Canada's participation in the F-35 program. Ministers and government MPs have visited companies across the country, including NGRAIN in Vancouver, Honeywell and Goodrich in Ontario, and Esterline CMC Electronics and Pratt & Whitney Canada in Quebec.
I should inform the House that after I complete my speech and answer questions and comments, I will be visiting GasTOPS, a company in Vanier, here in Ottawa, that is producing the debris sensors for the F-35. I am looking forward to meeting the workers and discussing with them how the F-35 is a great opportunity for new jobs and new opportunities right here in Ottawa and Vanier.
No other aerospace and defence program would provide Canadian industry with access to participate in the production and sustainment of between 3,000 and 5,000 aircraft. This represents a huge pool of opportunity for Canadian employers. Canadian companies have already proven to be competitive in the F-35 program by offering innovative technologies at competitive prices.
In addition to the over 3,100 partner aircraft, Lockheed forecasts export sales of more than 2,000 additional aircraft to non-partner countries, and of course Canadian companies will benefit from those sales.
Naturally, the industry is behind the program all the way. When will the Liberal Party stop playing petty politics and support the Canadian aerospace industry?
As a point of comparison, the F-16 itself had a production run of over 4,400 units. With the F-35 expected to replace the F-16 and the F-18 and many other platforms, the market potential for the F-35 is very evident.
By competing for this high-value work at the beginning of a multi-year, multi-billion dollar program for an international market, Canadian companies will not only contribute to their success in the short term, but will also see significant opportunities for decades to come. Canadian businesses, research laboratories and universities have been participating in the design and development of the aircraft and its systems, and are taking part in a supply chain that is producing a state-of-the-art aircraft that is expected to capture over 70% of the fighter aircraft market as the program reaches peak production.
Canadian participation in this program has been and will continue to be an integral aspect of our aerospace and defence industries' success now and in the future. Put simply, the F-35 program brings significant benefits to Canada and Canadian industries. It gives Canadians a rare opportunity to take part in the global supply chains that will shape business relationships in the aerospace and defence sectors for decades to come. It will create high-value jobs for the men and women of Canada's world-leading aerospace industry, and will sustain that work for decades to come. It will create work that will be there for students graduating today and for their children too. These are real opportunities and real benefits for communities across this great nation.
With the economic recovery still fragile, the hard-working men and women of Canada's aerospace industry can rest assured that this government is on their side.
The Liberal Party's position is forcing it to choose between two options: ground the Canadian air force when the CF-18s reach the end of their useful life, or purchase an aircraft other than the one that it used Canadian taxpayers' money to develop. Which option will it choose?