44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 20, 2023 10:00AM
- Apr/20/23 11:05:39 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I would not ask my colleague to reveal Pratt & Whitney's industrial secrets, but I am pleased to hear that the company is working on this. I hope it will come up with a solution that allows the aerospace and civil aviation industries to improve their carbon footprint.
I was not trying to minimize the sector's importance. I was saying that 3% is not the same as 40%, although it is important. We have to do better. Every time I take an airplane, I make a donation to a Université du Québec à Chicoutimi program so trees will be planted to offset the greenhouse gas emissions from my flight. However, this is not a long-term solution. The industry will eventually have to improve its carbon footprint. The auto industry is currently making the transition. The inter-city bus sector is currently making the transition.
Yes, we need to do more and the federal government needs to do more to support the sector and innovation for research and development to reduce the carbon record of the air transport sector, which, by the way, is not going anywhere either. I think that everyone will want to get together, meet up and visit other countries. I do not think this is ever going to stop. We can reduce, be more discerning about how often we fly. We need to encourage the industry to have a much more acceptable carbon record.
245 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/20/23 11:17:14 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's reference to the automobile industry. It is important for us to recognize that often in different regions of the country we will find certain industries that have excelled. When we think of the automobile industry, we have to think of the province of Ontario.
When we think of our aviation and aerospace industry, which is very strong and healthy, we think of the province of Quebec. We also have significant industries in Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia and even in other areas, and it all feeds into the bigger picture of Canada's aerospace industry. I say that because it is important that we recognize that there are many ways, both direct and indirect, that the government has been supporting the aerospace industry.
Could my colleague provide his thoughts in terms of the worldwide impact on the aerospace industry which has been hit hard by the pandemic, leading to less demand as a direct result of the pandemic?
164 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/20/23 11:18:33 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, I understand my colleague's question, that the pandemic had a global impact on the industry. The impact in Canada is even greater. The Canadian industry is so developed that we are not only supplying aircraft to Canadian companies such as Air Canada, WestJet and others, but we are selling aircraft, and aircraft engines and parts around the world. Obviously there was an impact.
My colleague's question is interesting because he talked about the automobile sector. He said that this had repercussions across Canada, which seems obvious to me. In my riding, there is a company called Liberty Spring. It supplies half the shocks of all the vehicles built around the world. We can be extremely proud of that kind of business. Its headquarters are in Montmagny, in my riding. I am a business owner myself. We can be proud of what business owners have done to develop this industry for over a century now in Quebec and Canada. The same goes for the auto industry. These industries are not in competition, and we should not frame them as such.
We all have to work together in this country.
192 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/20/23 12:03:01 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I would like conclude this debate by saying that the industry is united.
The world is short some 6,000 aircraft and so far, the government's response has been timid, in the industry's words. Allow me to draw attention to the contributions of various people. We heard from 33 witnesses, including representatives from Aéro Montréal. I want to thank its president and chief executive officer. We also heard from Mike Mueller of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada, along with the representatives of MDA, Airbus Canada, Airbus Helicopters Canada, STELIA Aerospace St-Laurent, Telesat and Unifor. I also want to thank Renaud Gagné of Unifor Québec.
We also heard from representatives of Boeing Canada, the Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace, Hexagon's Autonomy & Positioning Division, Rheinmetall Canada Inc., Boeing, Héroux-Devtek, NAV Canada, Bell Textron, and more.
Consultations with industry partners and union representatives have generated a broad consensus within the industry in support of a national aerospace strategy backed by the billions of dollars needed for the industry to develop. Is the government of Canada headed in this direction?
195 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/20/23 12:07:02 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak to the report entitled “Development and Support of the Aerospace Industry”, which was tabled in the House of Commons on June 16, 2022.
Let me first say that I very much value the aerospace industry. The industry is critical to Canada.
Before I continue, I will be sharing my time with the member for Lac-Saint-Louis.
As I was saying, I value the aerospace industry because it is critical to Canada. It is also critical to my own home province of Nova Scotia, where IMP Aerospace & Defence is located. It is a proud Canadian organization that employs over 2,400 people across Canada in all areas of aerospace and aviation. It employs over a thousand people in my province of Nova Scotia and close to 100 in my riding of Halifax West, so one can see the importance of that industry right in my backyard.
I want to underscore the importance of the aerospace sector. This sector provides jobs, draws talent and contributes significantly to the economy of Quebec, Canada and Nova Scotia.
The aerospace sector provides jobs and talent and contributes significantly to our economy.
I want to talk about the aerospace industry and the support the federal government has provided to this sector and these workers since taking office in 2015.
The Government of Canada appreciates the committee's work and welcomes the testimony and recommendations it received from the aerospace industry in March 2021, as reflected in the committee's report entitled “Development and Support of the Aerospace Industry”.
The aerospace industry in Quebec and Nova Scotia is a vital part of the economy, and the government recognizes the extraordinary contributions this sector has made. We recognize, of course, that this is one of the most innovative and export-driven industries in Canada.
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent decline in global air travel has had a significant and lasting impact on the industry. Indeed, the global decline in commercial and business air travel has resulted in significant reductions in demand.
The reduction has been in the demand for aircraft, for aircraft maintenance and for parts.
In fact, in 2021, the Canadian aerospace industry, comprising the aerospace manufacturing and maintenance, repair and overhaul sectors, contributed over $24 billion in gross domestic product to the Canadian economy and nearly 200,000 jobs. This is a decrease of $0.9 billion in GDP and 7,300 jobs since 2020, and a total decrease of $9.4 billion in GDP and 35,200 jobs since the prepandemic levels of 2019.
The global industry has been gradually recovering from the pandemic over the past year, and Canada's aerospace manufacturing revenues declined at a significantly slower rate in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20, and at an even slower rate in 2021-22.
Moreover, despite the challenges, Canada's aerospace industry continued to rank first in research and development among all Canadian manufacturing industries in 2021, with investments totalling $934 million, as well as in its position as a world leader. In the production of civil flight simulators, we were first in the world. For civil engines, we were third in the world, and we were fourth in the world for civil aircraft.
The Canadian aerospace industry is expected to be well positioned for the recovery due to its diverse product portfolio, including a strong focus on regional business aviation.
The government's response tabled in the House last year outlines the government measures designed to respond to the committee's recommendations. They are organized into four categories.
I look forward to speaking, during questions and answers, on those four categories.
The first category is financial support, both direct and for research and development. The second is support for skills development and training. The third is support through procurement and the fourth is support through strengthened regulations.
Under each category, the government response highlights which committee recommendation is being addressed and provides examples of programs and initiatives to support Canada’s aerospace sector.
I want to take the last little while to thank the aerospace industry and highlight the impact that the industry has had on my own province of Nova Scotia. At the beginning, I spoke about IMP Aerospace & Defence, a proud Canadian organization that really has great local roots in my own backyard in Nova Scotia.
Last year, a number of my Nova Scotian colleagues and I had the opportunity to tour the hangar at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport. We met with employees working, maintaining and upgrading planes and helicopters used in search and rescue operations to extend their lifespan. We spoke directly to them and to the executive there. These are great-paying, middle-class local jobs for people who live in our communities.
I will highlight one person in particular because he stuck out in my mind. I do not believe I ever met him before, but his name was Mr. Keith Toon. He recognized my name through one of my daughters who plays soccer. She started playing soccer before she was five years of age. He was a soccer coach for decades. My daughter grew up to be a competitive soccer player, ending up playing university soccer; she is now on the women's soccer team.
What I am saying is that this highlights the significance of these employees and others working in these good jobs in our own communities. They are doing great work by volunteering and giving back. Yes, the aerospace industry is very critical in our province and in our country.
936 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/20/23 1:02:28 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, what the Conservative Party is against is taxes that kill jobs and kill industry, which is the habit of the government. I just went through a speech saying that over 750 jobs had already been lost in the aerospace and jet-manufacturing industries because of the government. If that is support for an industry, I do not want support for anything I do in the future.
68 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/20/23 1:03:38 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I enjoy sitting on the industry committee with the member. We are doing good, collegial work together on it.
On that particular issue, I absolutely agree. Part of the challenge of what happened when the government created the strategic investment fund, or SIF, program is that it collapsed other tax credits for specific industries to help with the very issue the member is talking about. That issue is that the government lost the sectoral focus in how to support the aerospace industry on issues like greening the engines and the fuel usage of aircraft in Canada. This is another thing the government has done to hurt the aerospace industry.
111 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Apr/20/23 1:07:48 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from South Shore—St. Margarets for his comment with respect to Liberal government support. Industry is always saying, “With a government like that, who needs enemies?”
He touched upon the so-called luxury tax. The Aerospace Industries Association of Canada figures that it is going to cost about 3,000 jobs. When asked about this, the finance minister said that such losses are “negligible”. What government has ever been so out of touch that a finance minister tells 3,000 people in the middle class, who are earning good wages, that their job loss is negligible? This is what we have seen from the government again and again. It attacks businesses and regular, everyday Canadians for ideological reasons.
The government again stated, with respect to the 3,000 lost jobs, that the wealthy have to pay their fair share. With the current government, every time it asks people to pay their fair share, the middle class and the little guy bear the brunt of its incompetence. We do not need a national strategy for aerospace; we need a national strategy to replace the incompetent, out-of-touch Liberal government.
202 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
