Yves Perron

“Mr. Speaker, as always, it is a true honour for me to rise in the House on behalf of the residents of my constituency of Davenport. I am rising to speak to Bill C-40, the strengthening Canada’s defence sector act. I am also speaking as the chair of the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association, and I am very proud also to serve as the vice-president of the NATO parliamentary assembly. I spend a lot of time with parliamentarians from across our alliance, and what I hear from them helps explain why this bill is so important right now. Let me start with what the bill would actually do. Bill C-40 has two parts. The first part would establish as a Crown corporation the Defence Investment Agency, which we launched just over a year ago. Its job would be to carry out the production, procurement and investment of defence assets for the Canadian Armed Forces, the Department of National Defence and our NATO allies. Its chief executive officer would report to the board of directors, and the corporation would remain accountable to Parliament through a responsible minister. The second part of the bill would amend the National Defence Act to create an associate minister of national defence for procurement so that, for the first time, defence procurement would sit under one responsible minister. It would also update the Defence Production Act, which would allow Canada to stockpile critical supplies and to invest directly in our defence and security sectors. This is what is in the bill. I would like to spend the rest of my time talking about why we absolutely need it. For over 70 years, Canadians have lived within an international order that we helped build after World War II, one based on rules, on open trade and on strong institutions such as NATO and the United Nations. It was never perfect, but it brought us decades of peace and prosperity. That world has changed in a very significant way, and I agree with our Prime Minister when he says, “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.” We are watching the rise of authoritarianism and, in some places, fascism. Russia continues its brutal war against Ukraine, and the tariffs imposed by our closest neighbour have hurt Canadian workers and shaken the global economic system that so many of our jobs depend on. I know that many of the residents in my riding of Davenport are feeling this. When I talk to people at community events or at the door, I hear a real unease, a sense that something fundamental has shifted. To me, they are right to feel this way. I do not think we can afford to be nostalgic for the world as it was. We have to deal with the world as it is today. One of the biggest changes is in the nature of war itself. Admiral Pierre Vandier, who leads NATO’s Allied Command Transformation and recently visited Canada, has been warning that the lines among peace, crisis and war have broken down and that our adversaries are working around the clock, below the threshold of open conflict in what he calls the grey zone. NATO now has a name for this: cognitive warfare. It means our adversaries are not only trying to take territory but are also trying to change how we think, they are trying to divide us and they are trying to make us lose faith in each other and in our democracy. Let me put it simply: An attack on Canada today may never involve a single soldier crossing our border. It could mean someone stealing our data or our money, spreading disinformation in our communities or trying to get into the systems that run our water and electricity. Admiral Vandier also said, “The most expensive commodity today is time”, and that line has stayed with me because time is precisely what our current procurement system has been costing us. Canada, as we know, is the second-largest country in the world by land mass, with the longest coastline on earth and an Arctic that is opening up and attracting more and more attention from others. Defending a country this size takes the right equipment, delivered on time. In the past, too often we have not delivered. Our public servants have worked incredibly hard on these files. The problem, though, is a system that was never built for the speed this world now demands. As a result, our women and men in uniform have too often waited years, sometimes decades, for the equipment they need to do their job. That is why we are proposing a Crown corporation. The change we need is urgent, and I believe we need a dedicated institution with the authority to deliver it. As a Crown corporation, the agency would be able to negotiate contracts using commercial practices that industry already understands, and it would bring procurement and strategic investment together under a single mandate so decisions can move much faster. Allies like the United Kingdom, Australia and Sweden have had dedicated defence procurement bodies for years, and this bill would bring Canada in line with all of them. I know some members of this House will say that a new Crown corporation simply adds more bureaucracy. I would say it does the reverse, because it brings work that is now split across three departments into one place and removes many duplicate approvals. I also want to be clear that accountability matters. The corporation would still follow Treasury Board rules. It would still be audited, it would still report to this House and it would still answer to a minister. Now, I want to take a moment to speak to a question I often hear from residents of my constituency of Davenport, a community that has always cared deeply about peace and social justice. People often ask me, “Why are we spending so much on defence?”, and whether that money and effort should be going towards peace instead. I want them to know that I share their commitment to peace. Where I have landed is that in today’s world, peace has to be protected, and that requires us to be able to defend ourselves. Strong deterrence is often what stops a dangerous situation from turning into a war. I believe that a Canada that can defend its own sovereignty will be a much stronger voice for peace, human rights and diplomacy around the world. This is also about our responsibility to our allies. Every time I meet with my NATO colleagues, I hear about how much they are counting on Canada to do its part, because collective security only works when every member contributes. I am proud that, for the first time since the end of the Cold War, Canada has met NATO’s 2% target, and that we have committed to reaching 5% by 2035. Bill C-40 is how we will make sure that this investment turns into real capability for our forces and our allies, delivered on time. I also want to mention jobs. Our defence industrial strategy aims to have 70% of defence acquisitions go to Canadian firms and to create up to 125,000 good-paying jobs. Our goal is that when Canada buys, we build here in Canada, using Canadian steel and aluminum, and the talent of Canadian workers. We are already seeing this happen with more than $11 billion for new icebreakers at Chantier Davie in Quebec and with an expanded armoured vehicle fleet that will sustain thousands of jobs in London, Ontario. Does this mean that all is done? Absolutely not. We have so much more to do, but this bill is one important step, and it gives us the institution we need to get this work done at the speed this moment requires. My grandparents came to this country in the 1950s, and Canada gave them a safe, free and democratic place to build their lives. I think about that often and about our responsibility to protect what earlier generations built for us, especially now when the world feels so much less certain. I have a lot of confidence in Canadians. I believe we can protect our sovereignty, stand with our allies, grow our economy and continue to be the voice for peace in the world. I believe that Bill C-40 will help us do that. I urge all members of this House to support this bill, and to send it to committee where we can study it carefully and make it even stronger.”