International Trade committee  For competitive reasons, we typically don't disclose that information publicly.

International Trade committee  For the average salary in Honduras, I wouldn't have that information at my fingertips today.

International Trade committee  I don't know. What we're focusing on, really, is providing jobs in the country. We think that's what's most important, and obviously it would have a negative impact on the employment level if we weren't there—for sure.

International Trade committee  There's an industry minimum wage.

International Trade committee  The industry minimum wage, I believe, is about $250 per month. That's what I understand. We pay wages over and significantly above that, and as I mentioned, offer significant benefits.

International Trade committee  As for what we do from a labour standpoint, first and foremost the wages that we pay are significantly above the industry minimum wages, but we don't stop there. We offer extensive benefits to our employees, and we keep building upon that year over year. As I mentioned, we have in-house medical clinics at each of our facilities, staffed with doctors and nurses.

International Trade committee  Essentially what we do is we buy our raw materials, then, through our own controlled facilities, we manufacture the product.

International Trade committee  It could be local suppliers in Central America. Our biggest raw material is cotton, in fact, in the making of our product. That comes primarily from the United States, where we have our yarn-spinning operations. Depending on the raw material that you're referring to, there are various—

International Trade committee  As I mentioned, we've had a very positive experience in Honduras. We have grown our operations from what started in 2001 as an initial investment in a sewing operation in the country to the point now where we've put in over $700 million, represented by four textile facilities, two sock manufacturing facilities, four sewing facilities, and a screen-printing facility.

International Trade committee  What I can talk about is the experiences that we have. We have been in Honduras for over 15 years. We have made a significant investment. As I mentioned during my opening remarks, our CSR program is really an important part of the overall business strategy of the company. When we go into a country and operate, be it Honduras or any other country in which we operate, we ensure that we export the Canadian values and have a very robust corporate social responsibility program that's based on internationally recognized standards.

International Trade committee  We employ over 24,000 people in Honduras. We have had a very positive experience in the country and with our employees. The best example that I can give you is that when we have a job fair to hire people in the country, there are literally hundreds of people lined up outside of our facilities wanting to come work for us.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let me begin by expressing my sincere gratitude for the invitation to appear today. We have tremendous respect for the work of your committee. In particular, we are excited to contribute to your examination of the Canada-Honduras economic growth and prosperity act.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. Our biggest investment has been a technical school in Honduras. The objective of that school is really to get youth into a school, learn a trade, and be able to parlay that, to turn that, into employment in the future. It's not specific to the textile industry or our industry.

Foreign Affairs committee  I believe so. I think there's value that will come out of it, both for Canadian companies operating in Canada and for Canadian companies that have international operations all over the world. We'd be very happy, as the company Gildan, to play any kind of role the government would like for us to play and to share our experiences in the different countries in which we've operated and what it's meant for the communities in which we've operated, for our employees, their families.

Foreign Affairs committee  The perspective we're coming from is that given all the recent tragedies that have happened in Bangladesh and given the level of exports that Bangladesh has into Canada—as I mentioned it's the second largest after China and it has reached over a billion dollars in 2011—our perspective is that there is a role the Canadian government should play to ensure that the manufacturers that are supplying this product into Canada for Canadian consumers....