The Holy Economic Alliance | The Press

(London) Throughout the Farnborough International Air Show, it was great to see Ministers Pierre Fitzgibbon and François-Philippe Champagne multiply industrial and strategic meetings. The two counterparts evolved according to their own program, but without going hand in hand, they shared a common vision of the development of this important economic sector for Quebec.

For three days, Minister Fitzgibbon, assisted on a permanent basis by his Deputy Minister, held meetings at the rate of about ten a day with leaders of major aeronautics companies, contractors already present in Quebec and others that we would like to see established there.

“We had a good presence at Farnborough with the Investissement Québec team, the Ministry team and the people from the general delegation in London, who ensured good logistics.

“We came here with three objectives: to support our SMEs so that they increase their exports, to discuss with major donors so that they increase their investments in Quebec and continue to fuel growth and, finally, to push the electrification of transportation,” Minister Fitzgibbon told me, on the sidelines of the Show’s closing reception, organized by the Quebec Delegation in London.

Five days earlier, on Saturday evening, at the welcome reception for the delegation of 35 Quebec companies led by Aéro Montréal in Farnborough, Minister Fitzgibbon had insisted on the good collaboration that existed between him and his federal counterpart, François- Philip Champagne.

And Minister Champagne returned the favor by publicly praising the same evening and on every subsequent occasion of the excellent cooperation between the two governments in their economic development strategy.

Rarely in the past 20 years have we seen such a concordance of views and objectives between two economic ministers from Ottawa and Quebec. We have been accustomed to the deployment of tunnel strategies for a long time, with each level of government defining its priorities, ignoring those of its counterpart or adopting them very timidly.

“François-Philippe Champagne comes from a business background like me. He is now pursuing a political career whereas I am only passing through, but we speak the same language. We did it in the development of the electric car ecosystem, we do it in aeronautics, ”underlines Pierre Fitzgibbon.

flowers and challenges

Minister Champagne obviously confirms this shared community of interests.

“We have an excellent collaboration, we have seen it in the automotive, aeronautics and development of the hydrogen sector,” he said.

The two ministers intend to multiply efforts for the development in Quebec of new energies that will propel aircraft, in particular SAF (sustainable aviation fuels). “I’m becoming an expert in that area,” notes Pierre Fitzgibbon.

Minister Champagne recalls for his part that aeronautics does not only concern Montreal. Two of the largest SMEs in his riding of Saint-Maurice—Champlain, Placeteco and Delatek, are active in this sector.

During his visit to Farnborough, François-Philippe Champagne was to meet with the leaders of Lockheed Martin to discuss the economic fallout from the contract to purchase the CF-35 fighters, a file that worries Quebec aeronautics players.

The CAE company in Saint-Laurent is responsible for training F-18 pilots and runs the risk of not participating in the CF-35 program because the multinational carries out the training itself for its aircraft.

The federal government must ensure that the economic and industrial benefits of Lockheed Martin’s program are distributed according to the expertise and size of Canadian companies in the field.

“We are the best in the world, and Canadian taxpayers’ money will pay for the maintenance and training costs of the CF-35 fleet. We have to get our fair share,” CAE’s CEO explained to me.

François-Philippe Champagne is aware of this major issue and he said he wanted to let the leaders of Lockheed Martin know that Canada intended to obtain significant economic benefits, commensurate with the investments that will be made by the federal government.

Minister Fitzgibbon also wants the negotiations with Lockheed Martin to lead to acceptable conditions for Quebec companies, but he is not at the discussion table.

There will always be issues where the expectations of one will not necessarily correspond to the will of the other. But in the field of economic development and, more specifically, aeronautics, we are clearly trying to reduce these divisions to a minimum.