INDU Committee Report

First of all, the Bloc Québécois would like to thank the various witnesses who appeared before the Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry of Canada of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. Their generous participation has made it possible to present a report that will help parliamentarians continue their examination of the state of and challenges facing the automotive industry.

The report raises various points of view on the viability of the automotive industry and the assistance measures needed to support it. The Bloc Québécois recognizes that this essential industry for Ontario must undertake major restructuring for it to become profitable again and move past the crisis. The Bloc Québécois regrets however that the Committee did not recommend in the report that the federal government should offer the forestry and manufacturing sectors, which are vital to Quebec’s economy, assistance and loan guarantees comparable to those offered to the automotive industry in Ontario. Such a recommendation would have pressured the federal government to show fairness so that it does not once again give undue preferential treatment to Ontario at Quebec’s expense.

The Bloc Québécois is aware of the responsibility for the oversight of government spending incumbent on it as the third party in the House of Commons. This is why the Bloc Québécois would have liked the report to contain a recommendation to the government that all Canadian assistance should be provided jointly with the United States. In the opinion of the Bloc Québécois, if the US government refuses to introduce additional financial assistance measures beyond those announced during the current session of Parliament, any financial assistance provided by governments in Canada would carry considerable risk, making such loans unreasonable. Yet the report does not include any recommendation to this effect.

Finally, to ensure that the federal government and in turn Canadians and Quebeckers are not left with a financial sinkhole should the restructuring of the big three automakers fail, the Bloc Québécois would have liked the Committee’s report to recommend that the government attach conditions and clauses to the loans and guarantees in order to preserve as many direct (manufacturing) and indirect (suppliers and parts) jobs in Canada as possible. The Bloc Québécois maintains that the government should require guarantees in the form of capital and considerable assets to offset the financial risk. This way it could recoup some of its financial commitments if the restructuring plan fails.