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Unifor Quebec urges Premier Fréchette to issue clear directives to state-owned corporations and calls for a commitment from all political parties
While Canada’s last heavy truck assembly plant has been particularly hard hit by U.S. tariffs, the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) has just issued two requests for proposals for the acquisition of new trucks, with the contract to be awarded based solely on the lowest cost. No consideration is given to the economic benefits for Quebec, the resilience of our supply chains, or local manufacturing jobs. A truck assembled in Sainte-Thérèse by Quebec workers would be evaluated on an equal footing with an imported vehicle.
For Unifor Quebec, this move reflects a fundamental contradiction. On the one hand, Quebec has repeatedly claimed it wants to protect its economy and its manufacturing jobs from Donald Trump’s tariff attacks, even as a new wave of 50% tariffs has just been imposed on Quebec products. On the other hand, the Quebec government’s own state-owned corporations are sourcing their trucks based on the lowest possible price, regardless of where they come from.
Meanwhile, the PACCAR plant in Sainte-Thérèse, which assembles Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks and at one point provided for some 1,400 families, has faced successive rounds of layoffs since Washington imposed a 25% duty on heavy trucks under Section 232. Over 600 jobs at the plant have been lost so far.
“We can’t claim to be fighting to protect our jobs on Monday, and then turn around and purchase from abroad using Quebecers’ money on Tuesday,” decried Unifor Quebec director Daniel Cloutier. “We don’t control the trade war. But we do control public purchasing. It is the most direct tool Quebec has at its disposal for protecting our factories, and it refuses to use it.”
An immediate and clear directive
Unifor Quebec is calling on Premier Christine Fréchette to immediately issue a clear directive to all state-owned corporations, instructing them to adopt and prioritize a genuine made-in-Quebec procurement policy.
The SAQ already has such a policy in place. The problem is that it lacks teeth. It is possible to do much better while respecting the trade agreements to which Quebec is bound.
A test for all the parties
With just weeks to go before the October 5 election, Unifor Quebec is challenging the leaders of all political parties to clearly explain in their platforms, in black and white, how they intend to ensure that procurement by state-owned corporations is aligned with Québec’s economic interests.
“Preventing a plant closure by using the levers we control is the true test of economic consistency in this campaign,” added Daniel Cloutier. “The workers in Sainte-Thérèse don’t want sympathy. They want purchase orders.”
