Mr. Speaker, some unusual wording in the budget document does suggest that aerospace is a strategic industry. It does not say that literally, but in a roundabout way, it does say that the spinoffs from this industry are strategic. Again, that is a start.
We have long been calling on the government to provide targeted assistance to the aerospace sector. The government responded that there are already universal programs like the Canada emergency wage subsidy. It is true that the wage subsidy has helped the aerospace industry and that extending it in this budget is good news for the industry.
However, some sectors have been hit harder than others and deserve targeted support. The aerospace sector is one of them, since planes are grounded and sales have dried up. The health crisis did not create all the problems in this sector, but it made them worse. The fact remains that our flagship companies, which took generations to build, are at risk of disappearing in a matter of months.
In practical terms, what does the budget contain for the aerospace industry? The main problem is that the budget is vague and short on details about how it will be implemented, even though it is over 700 pages long. The government has wasted a year doing nothing. We obviously cannot wait another year. Something needs to be done.
When we look more closely at the broad strokes of the budget, we see that it sets out funding in two ways. It allocates $250 million to help businesses with technological and digital upgrades and $1.7 billion through the strategic innovation fund.
The $250 million will be made available through regional digitization agencies. To be clear, it is very commendable to want to help businesses go digital. The money should mainly go to SMEs, and Quebec has 200 SMEs in the aerospace industry.
A country that is home to the third-largest aerospace hub in the world, behind Seattle and Toulouse, and that is capable of building an entire aircraft from nose to tail should not have regional objectives. Rather, it should have a national vision, a consistent strategy that views the entire sector as a—