Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay

Mr. Speaker, Positioning · 11 wordswhat is happening today goes way beyond a temporary trade spat.Positioning Claims · 29 wordsSince the U.S. administration’s April 6 executive order, we have been seeing a methodical, systematic and deeply harmful hardening of the rules that our businesses were required to follow.¹ Positioning · 16 wordsUp until yesterday, there was a logical rationale behind the already excessive steel and aluminum tariffs.Positioning Claims · 29 wordsToday, Washington chose to hit hard by imposing a flat tariff of 25% on the total value of products that contain more than 15% Canadian steel, aluminum or copper.² Reasoning · 26 wordsIn other words, it is no longer just a tax on a raw material. It is a tax on our ability to process, innovate and export. Positioning · 8 wordsIt is a tax on our economic intelligence.Positioning Claims · 30 wordsThe consequences are immediate. Products that were once protected by trade agreements are now being hard hit. According to available analyses, nearly a quarter of our U.S. exports are affected.³ Positioning · 17 wordsThis figure of one-quarter needs to be taken seriously. It is a major blow to our economy.Positioning Procedure · 1 wordsHowever, ProcedurePositioning · 19 wordsand this is where the problem lies, the government’s response so far has been timid, if not downright inadequate.Positioning Claims · 37 wordsThe recent economic statement included zero provisions, ⁴and the subsequent measures announced yesterday—while showing some awareness of the situation—essentially rely on businesses taking on additional debt when, in many cases, they are already stretched to the limit. Positioning · 24 wordsThey are being offered loans, when what they need is breathing room. They are being offered bureaucratic processes, when what they need is predictability.Positioning Procedure · 5 wordsMeanwhile, the reality is harsh.ProcedureUnearned certainty Claims · 50 wordsOrders will fall off, perhaps not today, perhaps not tomorrow morning, but in the coming months, once the current orders have beeen filled. At that point, it will no longer be a question of worrying. It will be a question of closures, job losses and entire regions on shaky ground. The ask · 27 wordsThe government needs to stop managing on a day-to-day basis. It must act with diligence, consistency and, above all, ambition. We must start by protecting human capital. Reasoning · 36 wordsA temporary wage subsidy, modelled on what has been successfully implemented in times of crisis, would enable us to keep workers employed, maintain expertise and avoid a brain drain that would take years to recover from. The ask · 11 wordsNext, we have to defend our strategic sectors: wood, aluminum, steel. Positioning · 15 wordsThese are not things of the past. They are the pillars of our industrial future.Positioning The ask · 24 wordsWe need safeguards to counter unfair practices, whether from the U.S. or any other country. We also have to take a smart financial approach. Reasoning · 25 wordsBuying back part of the countervailing duties that our softwood lumber producers are subject to, for example, is not an expenditure; it is strategic repositioning. The ask · 21 wordsAbove all, we need to stop trying to act as if buying local were optional. It must become a nation-building obligation. Positioning · 11 wordsThe government has to be an economic driver, not a spectator.Positioning The ask · 30 wordsWe also need to take concrete, pragmatic measures: simplify duty drawback mechanisms, offer centralized support to SMEs and, above all, develop a clear, complete and detailed picture of impacted businesses. Reasoning · 7 wordsGoverning means understanding, and understanding requires measurements. Procedure · 6 wordsFinally, I will say it bluntly: ProcedureClaims · 19 wordsQuebec is facing $8 billion in potential losses, ⁵but the response from across the aisle is only $1.5 billion.⁶ Procedure · 4 wordsNumbers do not lie: ProcedureUnearned certaintyPositioning · 19 wordsThe response is not serious, it is not enough, and it is not the way to protect our economy.Positioning Procedure · 8 wordsWe have to tell it like it is.Procedure Claims · 14 wordsDonald Trump’s executive order is a direct attack on SMEs in Quebec and Canada. Positioning · 9 wordsIt is a targeted, bold and deeply destabilizing attack.Positioning Claims · 90 wordsThis is no mere trade dispute. These are trade-distorting tariffs imposed by a foreign country with no regard for the established rules. The change in the way section 232 tariffs are calculated, ⁷which is now based on the full customs value of the product rather than just the metal content value, is exactly the type of foreign economic interference that the House has always spoken out against. We are talking about a rule that was imposed unilaterally, without notice, which distorts competition and penalizes those who made the right choice: Positioning · 9 wordsto process here, invest here and create value here.Positioning Procedure · 5 wordsLet us make no mistake.Procedure Positioning · 8 wordsThese tariffs are being imposed in bad faith.Positioning Claims · 20 wordsTo keep those measures in place, the White House is circumventing the very spirit of certain United States court rulings. Positioning · 11 wordsIn other words, the American President is governing as he pleases.Positioning Reasoning · 8 wordsIn light of that, Ottawa’s responsibility is clear: The ask · 15 wordsIt must protect the Quebec and Canadian economies, protect their workers and protect their businesses. Positioning · 19 wordsYet what are we seeing? We are seeing Ottawa dragging its feet, hesitating, reacting, but always one step behind.Positioning Claims · 18 wordsThe Prime Minister was elected on a promise to defend our economy against this type of trade aggression; ⁸Positioning · 17 wordsyet still today, he remains on the defensive, as though the situation were going to resolve itself.Positioning Claims · 149 wordsThat is not going to happen. Things are only going to get worse. There are more tariffs now than there were when this government took office.⁹ While Ottawa is dithering, this is having very real consequences on the ground. Quebec, which is already more vulnerable to the United States’ tariff policies than the rest of the country, is being hit extremely hard. In the manufacturing sector alone, thousands of jobs have been lost over the past year.¹⁰ Entire industries, from forestry to certain segments of the cultural sector, have seen their employment rates decline significantly. With the new measures announced in April, the situation is only going to get worse. It is not just the metal being taxed now. It is the labour, the ingenuity, and the value added by Quebec and Canada. Every processed product becomes a target. Every company that has chosen to move upmarket is penalized. Positioning · 17 wordsIt is a perverse logic that rewards raw materials and punishes economic intelligence. We cannot accept that.Positioning Reasoning · 27 wordsSupporting our motion is not a symbolic gesture. It is a necessary step in defending the very credibility of our trade agreements, including the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. Claims · 19 wordsWe negotiated these agreements in good faith, with the goal of creating a stable, predictable and equitable economic space. Positioning · 19 wordsWashington has decided to change the rules midway through the game. This is not trade. It is commercial predation.Positioning Reasoning · 30 wordsPredation cannot be met with a wait-and-see attitude. It must be met with firmness. It must be met with concrete measures. It must be met by rising to the challenge. Claims · 67 wordsOn April 21 in the House, the leader of the Bloc Québécois asked the Prime Minister a very simple question: ¹¹Will there be any transitional measures to support our businesses and workers affected by the new U.S. tariffs? The answer was clear: Yes, they will be in the economic update.¹² However, the update was tabled on April 28, ¹³and it does nothing to address the urgent situation. Procedure · 7 wordsI mean it when I say “nothing”.Procedure Claims · 53 wordsThere are no targeted measures to counter the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump’s administration. There is no structured response to support the businesses directly affected by the tariffs. There is no plan to protect our industrial base. What we are presented with instead are improvised financial schemes, a $25‑billion so-called sovereign wealth fund, ¹⁴Reasoning · 21 wordswhich is sovereign in name only and whose mandate could just as easily have been given to the Canada Infrastructure Bank, Claims · 118 wordswhich, by the way, has not even used all the funds allocated to it.¹⁵ Meanwhile, the debt continues to grow, and with it the cost of servicing that debt, which will exceed $80 billion within a few years, far more than what is being transferred to the provinces for health care.¹⁶ I would remind the House that Ottawa is not complying with its own legislation.¹⁷Off point However, there are proposals. We had some, we still have some and we will continue to have more. The Bloc Québécois came up with a series of concrete and realistic measures that were adapted to the crisis. Not only were these proposals ignored, but Ottawa did not even see fit to consult us. Procedure · 4 wordsThat says a lot.Procedure Positioning · 26 wordsThat is indicative of a government that governs in isolation. That is indicative of a government that confuses a parliamentary majority with not having to listen.Positioning Procedure · 3 wordsEven more troubling, ProcedureClaims · 62 wordswhile our businesses are suffering, Ottawa is patting itself on the back for its revenues. More than $10 million was collected in tariffs, ¹⁸but just over half has been redistributed.¹⁹ The remaining $4.5 billion is sitting idle in Ottawa’s coffers while SMEs are forced to shut down and workers are losing their jobs.²⁰ The tools are there and the money is there. Positioning · 7 wordsWhat is missing is the political will.Positioning Claims · 20 wordsTo add insult to injury, the government continues to rely on outdated data to assess the impact of the tariffs. Positioning · 9 wordsThat is not good crisis management. That is improvisation.Positioning Reasoning · 69 wordsIn an economic crisis, improvisation always negatively affects the same folks: workers, the regions and SMEs. Recognizing a problem is one thing, and that is great. That is probably the first step. Taking action, however, is another matter entirely. At pivotal moments, the nations that come out on top are not those that wait for the storm to pass, but rather the ones that mobilize to confront it directly. Positioning · 15 wordsWhile Canada may not be ready to do so, Quebec will do it every time.PositioningPartly on point Claims · 10 wordsThere are many solutions that just need to be implemented. The ask · 12 wordsI hope the House will adopt today’s Bloc Québécois opposition day motion. Procedure · 7 wordsThis is what it comes down to.Procedure