Thank you very much, Mr. Crête.
Because this program is so flawed, our recommendation is that it be eliminated, that steps be taken to essentially phase out this program as quickly as possible. But in the meantime, make adjustments to the playing field between manufacturers and provide certainties to manufacturers for the 2008 model year.
This program was introduced without any warning or consultation with industry, yet it's almost three months later and the wheels have already come off the cart. Administratively, these programs are complex and don't work.
On recommending more appropriate action, we suggest following through on a broader integrated plan that involves the smog-related standards that have already been adopted—the most stringent smog-related standards in the world. We should follow through with our voluntary agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.3 million tonnes in 2010. We should now look beyond that with more stringent fuel economy standards that the Prime Minister has announced he will do in 2011. Those standards, in our view, should continue to capitalize on and benefit from the integrated approach that our industry has taken since 1965 and harmonize ourselves with the very stringent reformed CAFE standards that are forthcoming in the United States.
We recommend that we take the broad comprehensive plan to integrate fuels with greater diversification of fuels, that we integrate the whole notion of green fleet zones, where government fleets and commercial fleets can adopt many of these vehicles that we already have on the market that run on renewable fuels, like 85% ethanol or biodiesel.
We should help consumers, not with a program like the auto eco-rebate or the green levy program, but with an incentive to actually help offset the premiums attached to some of these very sophisticated advanced technologies.
We should also look to driver behaviour. This is not so much a fuel economy debate as a fuel consumption debate, and it's a nuance that is very important. Our ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions really depends on how we use our vehicles and how far we drive a vehicle. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions we all emit when we drive a vehicle is directly proportionate to the amount of gasoline consumed.
That is what we would recommend, Mr. Crête.