Government Operations and Estimates

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) met on June 16, 2026, to study the government's "buy Canadian" policy and to hear from the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) on recent fiscal and economic reports. Witnesses included Annette Ryan, the Parliamentary Budget Officer; Daniel Cloutier, Quebec Director of Unifor; Charlotte Laramée, CEO of the Quebec Aluminum Industrial Cluster; and Olivier Marcil, Vice-President of Public Affairs and Communications at Alstom.

Annette Ryan, joined by PBO analysts, presented her office's reports on the supplementary estimates (A) for 2026-27 and the June 2026 economic and fiscal outlook. She noted that the supplementary estimates seek $3.6 billion for budget 2025 measures and $358 million for measures from the spring economic update, and that the PBO does not view the Canadian economy as on a clear negative trajectory despite two quarters of negative growth. Ryan stated that the government has less than a 1% chance of meeting its deficit-to-GDP fiscal anchor without policy changes, due to the sensitivity of both deficits and GDP to economic shocks, and that debt service charges are a rising concern, projected to increase from 10.6 cents to 13.1 cents per dollar of revenue by 2030-31. She also acknowledged that the PBO's forecasts are more pessimistic than the government's, reflecting more recent economic data, and that Canada enters a period of global uncertainty from a position of relative strength, though business investment and productivity remain weak.

Daniel Cloutier of Unifor argued that the "buy Canadian" policy is a good start but must go further, citing the Paccar truck plant in Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec, which has lost nearly 800 jobs due to U.S. tariffs and production shifts. He recommended that the policy be applied retroactively to high-value, un-awarded contracts like Via Rail's $3-billion procurement, that American suppliers be excluded from preferential treatment in reciprocal procurement, and that the government use the Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act to discourage offshoring. Cloutier also urged moving away from the lowest-bidder approach, which he said fails to account for the true societal cost of lost industrial capacity and tax base.

Charlotte Laramée of AluQuébec emphasized that the "buy Canadian" policy must be tailored to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which represent over 1,700 aluminum processors in Canada. She recommended lowering contract thresholds from $25 million to $5 million, dividing tenders into smaller batches, and ensuring that contracts consider total cost of ownership rather than just the lowest bid, as aluminum's durability and end-of-life value offer long-term savings. Laramée also called for escalator clauses to account for raw material price volatility and for the government to protect the aluminum value chain from non-market economies like China, Turkey, and Taiwan, which she said are flooding the Canadian market and weakening local industry.

Olivier Marcil of Alstom highlighted that his company is the only global passenger rail manufacturer with facilities in Canada, employing over 5,000 Canadians, and that a recent $2.3-billion contract with the Toronto Transit Commission includes a minimum of 55% Canadian content, supporting nearly 2,700 direct and indirect jobs. He argued that public procurement should be used as an industrial policy tool, similar to the U.S. "Buy America" act, and recommended that the government set clearer, more specific Canadian content targets and align policies across all levels of government. Marcil noted that rebuilding supply chains requires time, investment, and consistent policy, and that the definition of "Canadian" must be tightened to prevent companies from simply opening a post office box to qualify.

During questioning, Cloutier and Laramée agreed that the "buy Canadian" policy should be part of a broader national industrial strategy, with Cloutier noting that Canada lacks such a strategy and citing the government's sole-source award of a surveillance aircraft contract to Boeing without allowing Canadian companies to bid. Laramée stressed that predictability is essential for SMEs to invest and structure their supply chains, while Marcil added that the policy must prevent "post office box" companies from qualifying. On the PBO panel, Ryan confirmed that the government's fiscal anchor has design issues and that there is a 99% chance it will not be met without corrective action, and she agreed that overly optimistic growth assumptions could make government finances appear healthier than they are. The committee also discussed the impact of U.S. tariffs, with Laramée calling negotiations on the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement essential for long-term stability, and Cloutier urging the government to move away from commodity markets toward value-added manufacturing.