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Steeve Lavoie

Liberal on Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 2

Replying to Maxime Blanchette-Joncas (Bloc Québécois)
“Mr. Speaker, I would like my colleague to clarify these economic sovereignty concepts for us. The government wants to propose major projects. I just mentioned LNG Canada as an example. This project is owned by foreign interests, including Shell, in the United Kingdom, Petronas, in Malaysia, PetroChina, in China, Mitsubishi, in Japan and Kogas, in South Korea. It is wholly financed by foreign capital. I would therefore like my colleague to clarify how we can be masters in our own home, as he proposes, and strengthen our economic sovereignty, when the major projects of national interest that we are building are owned by foreign interests. The decisions that these companies make will be based not on our interests, but on theirs, which are not the interests of people here, in Quebec or in Canada. Considering my colleague’s expertise in investment and his professional experience in the financial field, can he shed some light on this issue, in the public interest?”

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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is right: Canada’s economic sovereignty is important. Everyone knows what is happening with our neighbours to the south when it comes to the tariffs we are facing. We are supporting our businesses. As for Quebec, my colleague knows full well how we support the Churchill Falls project, which will double electricity production. These are concrete actions. I also spoke earlier about Davie in Lévis, not far from his riding. That is an $11‑billion investment in our region. I remember that when I visited the Davie shipyard, there was talk of creating predictability for more than 600 suppliers within the region alone. When we talk about economic sovereignty, helping SMEs and making decisions about the direction we want to take our economy, that is how we do it: by supporting our local SMEs.