Mr. Chair, it is always an honour to rise in the House to speak on behalf of the hard-working people of Windsor. Tonight I want to talk about something that matters to every family in Windsor, and to a whole lot of families across this country, and that is the future of the auto industry.
In my community, we do not need contracts or long reports to understand what is going on; we feel it. We hear it in our workplace and see it in the news, and we know the stakes are high. Let me lay out some simple facts so Canadians understand what people in Windsor have understood for generations.
Our auto sector puts $14 billion into Canada's economy every year. Each job on the line supports nine more jobs in the community. There is no other industry in Canada that does that, not one. We export 92% of our vehicles to the United States. That access is not optional; it is a necessity for our industry, especially when motor vehicles make up 8% of everything we export, and when our 600,000 jobs, Canadian jobs, rely directly or indirectly on auto manufacturing. One would think that the government would treat it as a top priority, but that is not what we have seen.
When the auto sector started sounding the alarm, when unions raised flags and when workers spoke up, what was the response from the Prime Minister? He said, “Who cares?” When asked about the growing trade issues with the U.S., the answer was that it is not a “burning issue”. For someone who lives in Windsor, it is not just a burning issue; it is a five-alarm fire.
Real people are being affected. We are not talking about hypotheticals; we are talking about real families facing real job losses. At CAMI in Ingersoll, 500 jobs are gone. In Oshawa, 750 jobs are gone. At Stellantis in Brampton, 3,000 jobs are gone. In Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec, 725 jobs at PACCAR are gone. These are not just numbers; they are mortgages, retirement plans and our children's futures. Workers know that once these jobs go south, they do not come back.
Windsor's workers built this country's auto industry, and they did not do it alone. They did it with unions that stood up for fair wages, safe workplaces and stability. In Windsor we know what teamwork between workers, unions and industry looks like. We have lived it for over a century. Guys like Charlie Brooks gave their life for their union brothers.
I will tell the House something simple. People can stand with unions, they can stand with workers, they can stand for strong manufacturing jobs, and yes, they can still vote Conservative, which they did this year. However, at the end of the day, this is not about slogans; it is about who is actually fighting for workers when it counts.
The Liberal-NDP coalition has offered zero leadership. The Liberals have had 10 years to prepare this country for economic shocks; instead they have made us more dependent on the U.S. They have blocked opportunities to develop and export our resources. They have hog-tied every growing industry with red tape. Now, when the U.S. plays hardball, we are left without any leverage.
The Liberals, and the NDP for that matter, will show up with slogans, take photos at rallies and promise the world, but they do not secure a single investment, do not fix a single trade problem and do not protect a single auto job. Workers are seeing through this. They need results, not smoke and mirrors.
More importantly, while the government was shrugging its shoulders, we acted. Our side pushed for emergency hearings about Stellantis. We pressed for an emergency debate. We secured committee meetings to investigate what went wrong. We did not wait. We did not shrug. We did not say, “Who cares”. We stepped up because the workers we represent deserve nothing less.
We have a practical plan to rebuild confidence, and that takes responsible government. We will fight the tariffs immediately, not months from now. We will make Canadian-made vehicles HST-free. We will clear the roadblocks that push investment out of Canada, and we will align our EV policies with the United States so manufacturers know what to do. We will build an environment where companies want to invest, not leave our country. There are no grand theories and no wishful thinking, just practical steps that will help workers keep their jobs and their futures.
Our workers do not ask for special treatment. They ask that their government have their back, and at this moment, facing the biggest challenges to their livelihoods in their generation, what do they get? They get “Who cares?” and are told it is not a “burning issue”. In Windsor we care. In our communities it is a burning issue, and we will keep fighting for it for as long as it takes to protect good Canadian jobs and secure a future where families can count on this industry the way it counted on them.