Mr. Chairman, thank you for your request to appear here today. I welcome the opportunity to come to Canada, and I have the utmost respect for the Canadian parliamentary system.
I always enjoy my visits to Canada because Toyota has such a rich tradition in this country. Toyota started selling vehicles here over 45 years ago and built its first greenfield parts manufacturing facility for North America in British Columbia over 25 years ago. That was followed by a full vehicle assembly plant a few years later. In addition, Canada is currently the only country outside of Japan to build Lexus vehicles. So I have a special place in my heart for the hundreds of Toyota and Lexus leaders, thousands of sales and manufacturing associates, and of course millions of customers here in Canada.
Having said that, I think it is very important that I clarify my role here in Canada and North America. My role, as president and chief operating officer for Toyota Motor North America, is separate from the operations of Toyota Canada. Although I'm responsible for all consolidated operations in North America and broadly for business development in this region, Toyota Canada operates as a separate joint venture licensed to distribute vehicles in Canada. In that respect, responsibility for the Toyota and Lexus vehicles on the road and compliance by Toyota Canada with the laws and regulations of Canada, including the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, rest with Mr. Tomihara and Mr. Beatty.
So please do not take my inability to respond directly to many of your questions as a sign of disrespect. Redirecting your questions to Mr. Tomihara or Mr. Beatty will reflect my effort to ensure that you get the best, most direct response to your questions from the Toyota executive best equipped to respond and reflects my limited knowledge of the day-to-day business activities that take place in Canada. While my ability to contribute to today's discussion may be limited, I'm happy to be here to support Toyota Canada, its leaders, and its customers.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Tanguay will now provide some additional comments about Toyota's manufacturing in Canada.
Thank you.