Evidence of meeting #14 for International Trade in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was union.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Marie-Anne Coninsx  Ambassador, Delegation of the European Union to Canada
Karsten Mecklenburg  Head, Economic, Commercial and Trade Section, Delegation of the European Union to Canada
Cristina Falcone  Vice-President, Public Affairs, UPS Canada
Mark Nantais  President, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association

12:55 p.m.

President, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association

Mark Nantais

The response to that is there are several ways in which is it changed, and has changed. Are we where we should be at this point in time in terms of cost in Canada? Probably not. There is still some distance to go, but if you take, for instance, our productivity from 2009 through 2012, it has actually increased by 22%. That's one way.

Second, we have some new labour agreements that will help with the cost of labour. Is there more room to go on those? Yes, there is. We look for efficiencies. This is why we say that regulatory harmonization is really critical whether it be Canada-U.S., federally, provincially, particularly in Ontario. There's another area that is very ripe in terms of providing greater efficiency and cost savings.

There are still a lot of things that we can do, which we have started to do but there is still a good distance to go, as I've said, but it's the combination of all of these things that will help us keep the cost of doing business in Canada to a more beneficial level.

1 p.m.

NDP

Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC

Mr. Chairman, I have just a friendly point of order.

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield

Okay. Go ahead.

1 p.m.

NDP

Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC

It's just a friendly one to Mr. Shipley, because I know he wouldn't want to leave the record....

He said that for every one car we ship to Europe, we get one back, and he quoted the witness. But the testimony by the witness was that actually we get ten back for every one that we ship.

I just didn't want the record to be—

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield

That's fine, although that's not really a point of order.

Go ahead, Mr. Shipley.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON

Yes, it was ten to one I'd meant.

That said, that is good, because I think one thing Canada is always recognized for is its quality. I can think of fuel efficiency. What we're doing in Canada is so important. We had that relayed earlier, actually, that significance, and you have reaffirmed that.

Madam Falcone, we see these trucks on the road all the time, moving products. It's great to have you come to our committee. Thank you. You laid out the benefits here—

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield

Very quickly.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON

—that if you have trade, you have growth, and if you have growth, you have more employees.

How do you feel that this agreement will actually help your productivity, or help the efficiencies within your company grow?

1 p.m.

Vice-President, Public Affairs, UPS Canada

Cristina Falcone

Again, as I mentioned before, we work on capacity. That trade deficit is important to us. We know that imports are critical, because often they end up being part of exported goods. We don't want to send out empty planes. If we have capacity coming into Canada and going out, it improves our cost to serve, which helps us win more business.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON

Thank you.

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield

Thank you very much.

Mr. Hoback just wants to know whether UPS handles grain, because we're having a little problem right now.

1 p.m.

Voices

Oh, oh!

1 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield

We want to thank you very much for your testimony. It's been very valuable, and we appreciate that.

With that, we will adjourn the meeting.