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

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 fo

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 th

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

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

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 a

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  Yes, Mark highlighted the fact that all the companies are competing on an aggressive basis in a global fashion. What you find is that some companies have chosen different technology streams as their lead stream. In the case of some of the Japanese manufacturers, it's been hybrid

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  Our proposal would be for the end of the MOU, which is 2011. In terms of the percentage, as we've been saying, we need to work in an integrated fashion in the North American environment, which makes that percentage difficult.

Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) committee  If I could start, Mr. Holland, I think in terms of looking at something like E85, it's not particularly technology that my members have embraced as much as Mr. Nantais' have, but I think infrastructure is critical there. I think that's why the focus is on fleet applications in te

International Trade committee  Mr. Chairman and honourable members, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee today to review Canada-U.S. trade and investment issues and the security and prosperity partnership. By way of background, the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers

International Trade committee  I think in terms of the goal of the SPP, it's to try to have the whole North American economy work in a more efficient and effective way. With respect to those issues that directly impinge upon the automotive industry--for instance, some standards harmonization issues, motor vehi

International Trade committee  Let me take you back to 1965, when the Auto Pact was signed, which put the two economies together in terms of the automotive industry. From that perspective, we had an integrated North American automotive industry, and since that time the automotive industry in Canada has taken i

International Trade committee  Just briefly, the automotive industry is critical to Canada. On your point, I think we want to ensure that we don't have a situation where the border becomes an issue in terms of where multinational corporations decide to place their investment. Surely it makes sense to have a bo

International Trade committee  I have already outlined some of the initiatives, particularly in the area of motor vehicle safety standards. We are largely harmonized with the United States right now, but there are some minor differences in about 40 motor vehicle safety standards at the moment. A simple one tha