Madam Speaker, as the member of Parliament whose riding includes Garrison Petawawa, the largest army base in Canada, I am concerned with the health and well-being of each member of the Canadian Armed Forces. I am similarly concerned with the people employed at Arnprior Aerospace, who work in the aerospace industry and supply our military with the tools to do its job.
Earlier this month, I asked the Minister of National Defence an important question regarding Canadian jobs, procurement and protecting the lives of our women and men in uniform. Canada's aerospace industry and its value chain contribute more than $20 billion in GDP and 160,000 jobs to the Canadian economy annually. In my Ottawa Valley riding of Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, Arnprior Aerospace is a leading aerospace manufacturer. It has the capacity and skill sets to supply quality products to companies like Boeing and others.
As the Canadian government considers bids for the next generation of fighter jets, the Prime Minister needs to stand up for Canadian jobs. Canadian workers and taxpayers want the government to publicly commit to disqualifying bidders that take business away from Canadian companies like Arnprior Aerospace during these difficult economic times. Canadian taxpayers are opposed to funding manufacturing jobs in Mexico or elsewhere, which is what some fighter jet aircraft bidders will do unless they are told no. Canadians deserve much better.
If the Prime Minister cared about the lives of the women and men serving their country in uniform, particularly as we approach Remembrance Day, he would admit to Canadians that his defence policy is a scam. “Weak, Insecure, Disengaged” is the appropriate name of the Liberal government defence plan unveiled in 2017. While it announced billions for Canada's military over the next 20 years, who will be in the chamber 20 years from now to remind Canadians of another broken Liberal promise?
It is important to remind Canadians that the jet fighter replacement program dates back to 1997, when Jean Chrétien was prime minister and the decision was made to join with our allies in the joint strike fighter program. That would have seen Canada replace our aging fighter jet fleet with the fifth generation F-35. It is ironic that when the government attacks the former Conservative government over fighter jet procurement, it is in fact attacking Chrétien and his government's choice for a replacement fighter jet, a decision the previous Conservative government honoured. Here we are 23 years later.
This was not the first time a Liberal government has used military procurement as a political football to kick around. Remembrance Day is a tough time for the families who lost loved ones during the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. They do not forget that it was the decision by the Liberal Party to use military procurement, in this case replacing aging helicopters, during the 1993 election that meant our soldiers lacked strategic lift to avoid roadside bombs. The Chrétien Liberals' decision to cancel the Sea King replacement helicopter, the EH-101, was a cynical political act to get elected on the backs of the women and men who serve their country in uniform.
I remember the faces of the soldiers who died when their convoys drove over the roadside bombs. When the Liberals took office in 1993 and cancelled the Conservative order for replacement helicopters under circumstances like the F-35 debate, they paid $478 million in penalties and set off a 20-year delay in finding a replacement helicopter. That does not count the lives we lost as a result.