The importance of domestic content levels

By Ken Boshcoff M.P.
Thunder Bay-Rainy River

On February 14th, I rose in the House of Commons to begin debate on my Private Members’ Motion M-183 regarding Canadian content levels for public transportation projects. Many of my Parliamentary colleagues were surprised to learn that this is the first time since the founding of Canada in 1867 that domestic content levels have been discussed in the House of Commons.
I am pleased to report that the message is being heard - Parliamentarians of all parties seem to recognize the value of implementing a Canadian content level policy. However, while there may be general agreement to the idea, there are still many questions to be answered and concerns to be discussed before M-183 is debated a second time and the vote is held later this spring.
During the first hour of debate, each party had the opportunity to have one person from its caucus speak to the proposal to express concerns or questions regarding the motion. At that time, Conservative M.P. Bev Shipley of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, rose to outline a couple of concerns that he and his colleagues in the Conservative government have with M-183. Mr. Shipley said, “Our government is prepared to discuss with our partners how to encourage more Canadian content in these investments, but we will not and cannot force or dictate to provinces, territories and our municipal governments how they should do their procurement....We believe that domestic procurement requirements dictated by the federal government with respect to infrastructure provisions would be met with resistance by many of our provincial and municipal partners. Our only requirement is that procurement for projects funded with federal dollars is done in a fair, open, transparent and competitive manner.”
While I respect the viewpoint of the Conservative government as expressed by Mr. Shipley, I am very puzzled by his comments. Correct me if I’m mistaken, but I believe the job of the Government of Canada is to use federal tax dollars in the best way possible to support Canadians....through an investment in health care, or the federal employment insurance program, or the multitude of other federal supports that help our citizens each day. Each of these programs has set rules that outline how the funds are to be allocated....and so they should. Yet a Conservative M.P. stands in the House of Commons and says that the Government of Canada can’t set guidelines on how its funds are to be spent ...that’s ridiculous! Anyone who’s ever received funding for a project through FedNor, retraining support through E.I. or a refund from the ecoEnergy retrofit program, has received instructions on what the money can or can’t be used for...and that’s peanuts compared to the dollar values used in support of public transportation projects across the country.
I will continue my efforts with Parliamentarians of all parties to explain the importance of domestic content levels to support Canadian jobs and suppliers in an effort to gain support for this important measure. You can help in this effort by signing the petition in my office and by writing to the Prime Minister and/or the Minister of Transport to express your support for M-183.
If you are interested in reading the comments made by all parties during debate on February 14th, go to my website: www.kenboshcoff.ca for a link. The website also contains a letter of support that can be sent to the Prime Minister and/or Minister of Transport.