FORT FRANCES—Local MP Ken Boshcoff hosted his annual “Winter Warm Up” open house this past Saturday at the Little Beaver Snow Park here, not only to lend an ear to constituents’ concerns, but to get signatures for his private member’s bill, which will be debated in the House of Commons next Thursday (Feb. 14).
Called “Canadian Content Levels for Public Transportation,” Boshcoff’s motion is a push to get regulations in place to mandate Canadian content levels for public transportation projects, and to ensure public funds are used to provide the best value to Canadians by supporting domestic supplier and labour market.
“The bill arose, primarily, from the near loss of the Toronto Transit Commission subway car contract to a European firm that would have built it in China,” Boshcoff explained.
“It became painfully aware, after research, that almost the entire rest of the world has some sort of ‘domestic content’ requirements,” he added.
The United States, for instance, requires 60 percent final assembly while Japan requires 70 percent.
“France is 100 percent. You have to build a factory there if you want to bid on the job,” Boshcoff remarked.
“All of the European Union, the G-7, China—the players all have some domestic requirement,” he noted. “Canada is the only real manufacturer that doesn’t.
“So this is a bill to level the playing field,” he stressed. “It is within the WTO and NAFTA rules, that’s why the United States has such a high requirement.”
Boshcoff clarified that at this stage, he’s not proposing that a fixed percentage of Canadian-contracted projects must be manufactured in Canada.
“I’m not going to introduce a percentage,” he said. “This is such a ground-breaking policy that first we have to convince Parliament that they want a car.
“Then we’ll decide on what make.
“When you talk about percentages, it’s easy to lose a bill based on percentages. It’s easy for people not to vote for something,” reasoned Boshcoff.
“At this stage, no one’s done this before in Parliament—this will be the first time it’s been debated in the House of Commons’ history.”
Boshcoff also said there’s growing support for his proposed bill, which he first introduced last May.
“It’s been my role to rally everyone,” he remarked. “What I’ve been doing is going around and gauging support from the other parties and individual MPs, from organizations such as the Canadian Exporters and Manufacturers, private companies, suppliers that may be affected, and assembling this petition, which now has sort of caught on nationally.
“We’ve had petitions sent in from companies all over Canada, mostly employee groups,” he added. “We have people within the Canadian Labour Congress and the Canadian Auto Workers, being the two biggest labour organizations, also drumming up support.”
Boshcoff said he’s also had indications of support from three of the four parties in the House of Commons, and is in discussion with the Conservatives to see if they will get behind his proposed bill.
“Lots [of Conservative MPs] want to, but I can’t say anybody’s names,” noted Boshcoff.
He said the bill is very important for the Canadian economy, and this becomes more apparent to him all the time.
Just last Wednesday, he received an e-mail from a Canadian public transportation manufacturer in Canada that, because of American content requirements, has been forced to build a plant in the U.S. in order to successfully bid on projects there.
“It’s enough to make everybody shiver,” Boshcoff said.
Also Saturday, Boshcoff said he’s working on revising the policy for FedNor, which would see funding reverted to its previous levels.
And with the stricter regulations at U.S. border crossings now in effect, Boshcoff encouraged constituents to apply for passports.
“As we have been advocating for more common sense from the United States, I’ve always been telling people, ‘Please, get your passport,’” he stressed.
“However, it is time for a strong Canadian initiative to confirm in the Americans’ minds that Canada is not the threat they should be worried about,” said Boshcoff.
“I would like to restore a sense of neighbourliness, and go back to the mantra of the ‘world’s longest undefended border.’”
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
