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And now everyone is jumping in on the issue of regional benefits .......
MacKay joins call for Boeing to spread benefits
DANIEL LEBLANC
>From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA - Foreign Minister Peter MacKay has joined the intense lobbying to persuade Boeing Co. to spread out the economic benefits
flowing from the military's planned $3.4-billion purchase of C-17 cargo aircraft.
Industry and government sources said U.S.-based Boeing wants to direct about 30 per cent of the benefits to Ontario and 20 per cent to the
West. Less than 10 per cent has been allocated to the Atlantic provinces so far. While some benefits have yet to be allocated, Quebec would likely be
left with 30 per cent.
Quebec politicians, including Public Works Minister Michael Fortier, have complained that Quebec's share is way too small, given the province's 55- to 60-per-cent share of Canada's aerospace industry.
Last night, Radio-Canada reported that Mr. Fortier wants Quebec to have more than 40 per cent of the benefits and that he has recently blocked the purchase of the four planes because Boeing refused to oblige. To obtain the C-17 contract, Boeing has to pledge to buy supplies and services worth the exact value of the purchase in Canada. This package of regional benefits can be spent to build or maintain the Boeing C-17s, or any other current and future Boeing aircraft.
Mr. MacKay, a Nova Scotia MP who is also the minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, is pushing to increase the benefits directed to the Atlantic provinces. "It's not only Quebec ministers who are worried, it's also in the Atlantic," a senior federal official said. "Boeing has done very little in the Atlantic." An industry source added, "Mr. MacKay is doing just as much lobbying to ensure that Atlantic Canada get a fair chunk of the industry regional benefits."
The industry source said it's unclear whether Atlantic Canada has the capacity to take in a large portion of the work. The federal government largely lost the power to steer contract work to specific parts of the country in 1994 when it signed the Agreement on Internal Trade with the provinces. But Ottawa invoked a national security exemption in the C-17 purchase, which effectively removes the contract from the agreement's reach.
Mr. Fortier, who is also the political minister for Montreal, has warned he will not sign the contract if Quebec does not obtain the largest share of the benefits. Quebec's Economic Development Minister, Raymond Bachand, said the Canadian economy as a whole would benefit if his province obtained the
lion's share of the benefits.
"From a Canadian standpoint, the international economic battles are waged around industrial clusters. "That's how we can win. In the aerospace industry, it happens to be in Quebec," Mr. Bachand said in an interview. "If this were in the automotive sector, the industrial cluster would be
in Ontario." Mr. Bachand urged the federal government to refuse a deal that does not acknowledge Quebec's share of the aerospace industry, saying the
current proposal from Boeing is "unacceptable."
Mr. Fortier is seen as the lead advocate for Quebec industries, although the regional-benefits file is technically in the hands of Industry Minister Maxime Bernier. If Mr. Bernier and Mr. Fortier cannot come to an agreement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper could be forced to choose between helping the
Quebec industry and delaying the deal, or obtaining the aircraft from Boeing as quickly as possible. The matter is set to be discussed by a cabinet committee tomorrow afternoon.
Boeing has told the government that it can guarantee its price only until the end of the month.
MacKay joins call for Boeing to spread benefits
DANIEL LEBLANC
>From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA - Foreign Minister Peter MacKay has joined the intense lobbying to persuade Boeing Co. to spread out the economic benefits
flowing from the military's planned $3.4-billion purchase of C-17 cargo aircraft.
Industry and government sources said U.S.-based Boeing wants to direct about 30 per cent of the benefits to Ontario and 20 per cent to the
West. Less than 10 per cent has been allocated to the Atlantic provinces so far. While some benefits have yet to be allocated, Quebec would likely be
left with 30 per cent.
Quebec politicians, including Public Works Minister Michael Fortier, have complained that Quebec's share is way too small, given the province's 55- to 60-per-cent share of Canada's aerospace industry.
Last night, Radio-Canada reported that Mr. Fortier wants Quebec to have more than 40 per cent of the benefits and that he has recently blocked the purchase of the four planes because Boeing refused to oblige. To obtain the C-17 contract, Boeing has to pledge to buy supplies and services worth the exact value of the purchase in Canada. This package of regional benefits can be spent to build or maintain the Boeing C-17s, or any other current and future Boeing aircraft.
Mr. MacKay, a Nova Scotia MP who is also the minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, is pushing to increase the benefits directed to the Atlantic provinces. "It's not only Quebec ministers who are worried, it's also in the Atlantic," a senior federal official said. "Boeing has done very little in the Atlantic." An industry source added, "Mr. MacKay is doing just as much lobbying to ensure that Atlantic Canada get a fair chunk of the industry regional benefits."
The industry source said it's unclear whether Atlantic Canada has the capacity to take in a large portion of the work. The federal government largely lost the power to steer contract work to specific parts of the country in 1994 when it signed the Agreement on Internal Trade with the provinces. But Ottawa invoked a national security exemption in the C-17 purchase, which effectively removes the contract from the agreement's reach.
Mr. Fortier, who is also the political minister for Montreal, has warned he will not sign the contract if Quebec does not obtain the largest share of the benefits. Quebec's Economic Development Minister, Raymond Bachand, said the Canadian economy as a whole would benefit if his province obtained the
lion's share of the benefits.
"From a Canadian standpoint, the international economic battles are waged around industrial clusters. "That's how we can win. In the aerospace industry, it happens to be in Quebec," Mr. Bachand said in an interview. "If this were in the automotive sector, the industrial cluster would be
in Ontario." Mr. Bachand urged the federal government to refuse a deal that does not acknowledge Quebec's share of the aerospace industry, saying the
current proposal from Boeing is "unacceptable."
Mr. Fortier is seen as the lead advocate for Quebec industries, although the regional-benefits file is technically in the hands of Industry Minister Maxime Bernier. If Mr. Bernier and Mr. Fortier cannot come to an agreement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper could be forced to choose between helping the
Quebec industry and delaying the deal, or obtaining the aircraft from Boeing as quickly as possible. The matter is set to be discussed by a cabinet committee tomorrow afternoon.
Boeing has told the government that it can guarantee its price only until the end of the month.
