Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  What I said was that the executives in our company have taken a 10% wage cut. Our salaried workforce, depending on their levels, have also contributed to our plan. We feel that on the salaried side we have reached a competitive level. Now, the issue is that you have to be very careful, because if you're not, you start losing your most talented people.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Oh, absolutely. As I indicated, we, General Motors, carry a substantial chain in the whole value chain, whether it's suppliers, dealers, universities and research centres, or our own employees, so obviously a healthy sector certainly has trickle-down effects.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Again, as I indicated earlier in my testimony, our plan is based on very conservative assumptions. It contemplates no further plant closings beyond those we announced in our planning period. I would say that, as you know, the business viability is essentially very simple. It is the revenues that generate your cost structure, which leads to your profitability and your ability to pay, and also the financing that you get to finance your business.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Again, working with the governments and our stakeholders, we strongly believe that the best option for all the stakeholders, for the province of Ontario and the province of Quebec, where we have numerous suppliers, for our employees, and for our dealers is the path we're taking right now.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  I think the biggest risk in a scenario like you point out is the fact that there could be--and there's evidence to support this--disruption in demand. It's not like an airline where you buy a ticket, you fly for an hour, and then that relationship's all over. We and our dealers and, by the way, our suppliers, who provide spare parts, have a relationship with our customer that extends for years while that vehicle is in place.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Again, the proportionality is driven by a relative demand in both countries, because at the end of the day demand translates into production and production translates into employment and all the benefits of the supply chain. But I think it's very important, if you look at General Motors and what General Motors has done in the recent years--it's nothing short of a revolution in the car industry.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  We ask our suppliers also to be competitive, but General Motors purchases about $14 billion per year from Canadian suppliers. Some of that is used here in our plants; some of that is exported back to the United States. The recent small decline that we have seen has been mostly due to the period when we had a strong appreciation of the Canadian dollar.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Let me first say that we've had a good relationship and a good partnership with the CAW. They have helped us with competitive operating agreements in our plants. We have among the most productive plants in North America, and that's certainly a positive. As you may appreciate again when you look at restructuring a company and getting your cost base in line with your competitors, to be fair, no element of the cost structure you have can be ignored.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Again, the whole premise of our plan and our discussion with the government is on the concept of proportionality in terms of support here in Canada, proportional to the support the U.S. government is providing General Motors in the U.S., and proportional production relative to the U.S., because it's an integrated market.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  There certainly has been some coverage of that, but I have to point out that just as we have direct suppliers, which we call tier one, they in turn have their suppliers, which we call tier two and up to tier three. Many of these stories that have been published relate to tier three and tier two suppliers that do not sell directly to us.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Our executive workforce and salaried workforce, as I indicated, have taken a substantial reduction, not only in salary but also in wages and benefits. We are simply asking our labour partners—and we want to do this cooperatively with them—to reach comparable levels to those in the companies we compete with in the North American market, who are obviously the workers in the United States.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  In our submission we have outlined the industry outlook and our outlook for volume as well as production. I'd like to build on your comment that the current crisis being faced in the automotive industry is not just limited to North America. It is spreading around the world, and we are seeing it in all regions of the world.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  I'm generally not in the business of forecasting. I've been wrong with respect to our outlook on stock markets and currencies, so I'd rather not speculate, if that's okay with the members.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Obviously the demand drives production and drives jobs. To the best of our ability, our viability plan has been built on what we consider to be conservative assumptions for the U.S. market as well as the Canadian market. We have a baseline scenario, a downside scenario, and a upside scenario for planning purposes.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  The restructuring plan that we have presented to you, which is a public plan, was certainly developed in consultation with our U.S. offices, and so they are fully aware of the plan. They are fully supportive of the plan. They are supportive of the actions that are reflected in the plan, and they are supportive of the conclusions of the plan.