Premier tempers tone against Liberals over jets

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Premier Brian Pallister has challenged the federal Liberals to restore trust and certainty within Manitoba’s aerospace industry.

Pallister was primarily talking about the Trudeau government’s failure to build a “factory of the future” — a high-tech research and development project in Winnipeg, which the premier said has been in development since 2011 — and is underway in Ontario and Quebec.

But media also prodded Pallister to discuss sudden changes this week in Ottawa’s defence policy. The federal government announced Tuesday it plans to buy 18 Super Hornets — upgraded versions of the outdated CF-18 fighter jets — while delaying the purchase of F-35 fighters.

“We need certainty,” Pallister said. “We’ll continue to pursue additional clarity. There is greater uncertainty in the aerospace industry than there was days ago.”

The premier scaled back his words and tone from his harsh criticism Tuesday of Ottawa’s decision, which he had initially said would hurt Winnipeg’s economy. Pallister singled out Magellan Aerospace on Tuesday, which has invested tens of millions of dollars to manufacture parts for the F-35.

“There are many things that aren’t good. We’ll leave it at that,” Pallister said Thursday. “I won’t go into that topic today… not to allow ourselves to be divided. I want to work in partnership with people; to have a partnership, you need trust.”

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan told the Free Press Wednesday the decision on fighter jets is good news for the city; that Ottawa is not pulling out of acquiring F-35s and Winnipeg will benefit from Canada’s purchase of 18 additional CF-18s.

“This is very good news for Winnipeg given that Boeing has a substantial footprint in Winnipeg,” Sajjan said.

No contracts are in place yet, but Sajjan said Boeing will benefit and, since three-quarters of its Canadian workforce is in Winnipeg, the city will benefit too.

He said existing contracts with Magellan Aerospace on the F-35s are not in jeopardy because Canada isn’t pulling out of that program.

The Winnipeg division of Magellan Aerospace is the largest Canadian structural supplier to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Its production facility produces horizontal tail assemblies for the conventional take-off and landing variant of the F-35.

Pallister said Thursday he would not expect Sajjan to disagree publicly with his own government’s decisions.

The premier met for 90 minutes Thursday with leaders of Manitoba’s aerospace industry, something the premier’s staff said had been scheduled some time ago to discuss the “factory of the future.”

Aerospace executives were seated behind Pallister at his news conference, but they weren’t introduced. There was no comment from Magellan representatives or from Boeing, which build the CF-18s at plants in the U.S.

Pallister wanted to focus on the “factory” project, which he said has shovels in the ground in Ottawa and London, Ont., and in a Montreal suburb.

“They’ve left out one area of the country, Winnipeg,” he said. “You’ll need to get answers from them — I’ve been unable. We’ve had virtually no measurable response, except verbiage.”

Bob Hastings, CEO of Winnipeg-based research and development company WestCaRD, told the news conference the project is intended to produce the next generation of technological innovation. The extension of the program here was expected to include construction of an 80,000-square-foot building for research and development located near the Richardson International Airport, he said.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca