Industry experts question Saabuni pitch to bring 10,000 jobs to Canada – nationally
Critics question Saabuni’s plan to bring 10,000 jobs to Canada if it decides to set up shop here to assemble Gripen fighter jets.
The Swedish company has been tight-lipped about how it arrived at that number, making it difficult to evaluate the offer.
A Saab spokeswoman, Jenny Gerdes, said the estimate reflects the “scale of work” the company expects to bring to the country, “the gripen should be chosen.” N
“This figure is based on Globargens Globalsen’s demand for the Gripen and the associated production, distribution and R&D Canada activities,” Gerdes said in an email.
“The details of the industrial plan and the associated conditions are part of ongoing discussions with the Government of Canada, so we are not in a position to share specifics. “However, the assessment aligns with the benchmarks established by the industry and what we know Canadian firms can support.”
Saab has production lines in Sweden and Brazil and has proposed creating a new production hub in Canada or elsewhere in Europe to address the growing demand for its cars around the world, including in Ukraine.
Ottawa is reviewing its plans to acquire up to 88 F-35 A Fighters from American fighter maker Excheed Martin – a contract Saab sought before it was awarded to Lockeheed Martin in 2022.
Richard Shimooka, an F-35 sponsor at the MacDonald-Laurier Institute Calm think tank, dismissed Saab’s number of jobs as “completely lost.”
“They have created a media ecosystem with Canadians who absolutely believe that this plane will give you 10,000 jobs and will send (Jets) to Ukraine,” he said, adding that this figure would be the largest of all Swedish workers.
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“All this is believable.”
Conservative defense critic James Bezan, who has supported the F-35 purchase, called the review unnecessary and warns that it threatens Canada’s F-35 jobs.
Bezan told the Commons Defense Committee on Thursday that Brazil’s partnership with Saab had led to several hundred domestic jobs, “not the numbers that are being thrown around here.”
Saab’s CEO Midael Johansson told Canada Press in November that it is taking a long time to build production and Brazil has not yet met its first plane.
He said that Canada will end up with about 9,000 to 10,000 to 10,000 jobs “directly” over the decades he reached, “although the Canadian Production Hub will take three to five years to set up.
Johansson also emphasized that his company is not pressuring the idea of the Carney government – although he confirmed that it will appear set in Ottawa to buy a fleet of gripen jets.
“We are not campaigning,” Johansson said. “We will answer questions and provide information requested by Canadians or politicians and agencies that are part of this investigation initiated by the Prime Minister.”
US President Donald Trump’s Transport War and his comments about making Canada the US State Sturred Prime Parney Parney presented the demand for F-35 money back in March.
Aviation Minister Mélanie Jely was surrounded by speculation about the review when she said last month that the Liberal government believes Canada did not get enough from the F-35 Deal.
“Industrial benefits are not enough. There needs to be more jobs created in the F-35 contract. That is clear to me and clear to this government,” he said.
A spokesperson for his department, innovation, science and economic development of Canada, said that we will not share details after Saab’s assessment because it does not have details.
“The estimate of 10k jobs was created by the company. EDED does not have details on how the estimation process was done,” department spokesman Justin Simard said in an email.
When the company was bidding on the contract a few years ago, it offered to create 6,000 jobs. That offer came with a promise to represent aerospace and development centers in the Montreal area.
Academics said there was not enough information available to allow them to weigh in on Saabhu’s offering with certainty.
Philippe Lagassé, Priliasseré, associate professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affarient, said it is not clear “what consideration (the figure) remains.”
Ugurhan Berkok, a defense economist at the Royal Milter College, said he was skeptical.
“I’m not against cooperation with Saab, but I judge the prices – 10,000 seems too high,” said Berkok. “Down the road, maybe. If we get into the Saab bed and assemble the plane here.”
He said Canada’s defense sector employs about 60,000 people, more than half of whom are directly involved in defence.
Craig Stone, Emeritus Assomia professor of Defense at the Canadian Forces College, said there are many ways numbers can be compiled or fabricated.
“I’d like to see how they come up with the data,” she said.
Defense Minister David McGuinty said on Thursday that the government’s review of fighter jet procurement is ongoing and is happening as the government prepares to acquire F-35s.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, McGuinty said Canada is one of eight countries involved in the development of the F-35.
“We know that if Canada is not part of that family … it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for Canadian companies to participate in the agreements,” McGuinty said in French.
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