Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Our preference certainly is for a voluntary standard. We have a voluntary agreement in place that we will achieve. If we have to be regulated, as the government has intended, we will be regulated.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  I think the government has made it clear to us that's the direction in which they're heading. Mr. Nantais outlined in his remarks that the industry has a successful history of achieving their objectives with voluntary standards. With respect to mandatory standards, the devil is always in the details in terms of how those get implemented.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Mr. Chairman and honourable members, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today, and a special thank you to Mr. Watson and Mr. Godfrey for their role in securing my attendance before the committee today. Our belief is that it's important to hear from our side of the industry as well, because in terms of regulating the automotive industry we are looking at a product compliance issue, not a stationary source issue, as we are in other industries.

Industry committee  I knew you'd ask that question, Dave. In looking at the free trade situation with Korea, obviously I have Korean manufacturers that are part of my association and other manufacturers that are part of my association. I think, maybe taking a different point of view than Mark has taken, if you look at the impact strictly on Canada and not worry about access to Korea, what I would say is that if you look at who's likely to be most adversely affected by that, it would probably be the two Japanese automakers in Canada, which are producing product that's directly competitive with the type of product that would be coming from Korea.

Industry committee  I think Lorraine is right, there is a significant global overcapacity problem, but I think that will be addressed over time as all the facilities move to flexible manufacturing--which may be a closing comment. If you look at auto manufacturing in Canada, many, if not all, of the plants that we do have in Canada--the major plants, anyway--have moved to a flexible manufacturing basis.

Industry committee  Sure. I'll just go through my recommendations quickly, then. Having a marginal effective tax rate that is slightly better than the U.S. is likely not enough to attract foreign investment to Canada, as opposed to the large U.S. market. The government needs to continue to look for ways to enhance the competitiveness of the Canadian corporate tax environment.

Industry committee  Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, thank you very much for allowing me the opportunity to come before you today. As you indicated at the outset, I am the president of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers of Canada. Just for a bit of perspective on this particular association, it has a 25-year history of serving as a national association and representing the interests of member companies engaged in the manufacturing, importation, distribution, and servicing of light vehicles whose head offices are located outside of Canada and the United States.