Mr. Speaker, since the Liberals are not defending Quebec's aerospace industry, politicians from English Canada have free rein to spew their venom and say that Bombardier is a spoiled child that lives on handouts from the rest of Canada.
This morning, in The Globe and Mail, a Bombardier vice-president set the the record straight. After investing $586 million, Ottawa pocketed $733 million in royalties from the sale of Bombardier aircraft. In comparison, the federal government absorbed a net loss of $3.5 billion after having invested $10 billion to save GM.
Quebec's aerospace industry provides 41,000 good jobs, 10,000 of which are directly in research and development. It is the cornerstone of our leading-edge industry.
Here we have 40 Liberal MPs keeping mum while the Minister of Transport is working on dismantling Air Canada's bases, the Minister of Industry is trying to bury Bombardier, and the Minister of Finance is abandoning this leading-edge sector.
Quebec is paying a high price for the subservience of the Liberal MPs from Quebec.