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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 181

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 20, 2023 10:00AM
  • Apr/20/23 10:35:20 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I agree, but let me rephrase a few things. First of all, the member talked about helicopters made in Quebec. Indeed, we have Bell Textron, an amazing company. However, it is really sad that Bell Textron has never been able to bid on federal government contracts. Is that a coincidence? I wonder why that is. Therefore, the member might consider refraining from mentioning these companies. I would also rephrase the member's words. Yes, I agree that we need to work with this industry. However, instead of saying that they are continuing to work with it, I would say they are starting to do so.
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  • Apr/20/23 10:58:57 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I apologize if I was misunderstood. I did not say that the government should be purchasing Canada only. What I said was that I do not understand why it would award a contract directly to an American company without opening a tendering process to Canadian companies that could have submitted a bid. That is the key difference. Why give a gift to Boeing when we have companies here that can make better-quality surveillance aircraft than the P-8? It is not the same thing. For the F-35s, for example, I agree that there can be positive economic spinoffs for companies, including the one in Winnipeg. An aircraft can be built from start to finish here, but that does not mean that a company will do all its work in one country. We know that. I had the opportunity to visit a Bombardier plant in Mirabel that was building the C Series at the time, before it was sold to Airbus for the A220. Some parts for the C Series were made in Ireland. It was the wings, if my memory serves me. Those parts were then brought here. I think that is part of the global model, where aircraft parts are made in different parts of the world based on each place's expertise. That is how it should be.
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  • Apr/20/23 11:31:29 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my remarks, the Canadian aerospace regulations still fall behind those of countries such as the United States. I know that many companies in the aerospace sector have one thing in mind, and that is making a profit. How are they going to make a profit? They are going to make a profit if their planes are efficient and well maintained. That is how they are going to be greener in the Canadian context. We have to make sure that our regulations are up to date to account for even battery technology in airplanes, which is being researched effectively by scientists at NRCan here in our nation's capital. Until we get our regulations up to date, we are not going to see anything other than government announcements about it giving one company a dollar amount. We are not going to see an overall improvement to making our planes more efficient and environmentally friendly until our regulations are updated.
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  • Apr/20/23 12:50:37 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I agree. The whole point is we need to look at Canadian companies and Canada's role in contributing to the aerospace sector, not only in Canada but in North America. We have a lot of great companies that already contribute to some of the procurement projects that are happening in the U.S. Let us face it, there are a lot of procurement projects coming from the U.S. that we can contribute to, that we should be playing a greater role in, not just a small role but a bigger role. The government's role is to ensure that we have the research and development, and to ensure that we have the funding for first-stage innovation. Then, it is the private sector's role to develop and commercialize that next sector, so they could carry it on. That is what we want to happen. That is what we are going to have under a Conservative government.
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