Good morning, Mr. Chair and honourable committee members.
My name is Pierre Boucher and I am the President of the Cement Association of Canada.
I'd like to thank committee members for the opportunity to appear today and to provide the cement industry's perspective on budget and stimulus measures.
The eight member companies of the Cement Association of Canada operate 15 plants in five provinces. Canada's cement industry produces on average 15 million tonnes of cement a year, with 10 million tonnes being consumed here in Canada and five million tonnes being exported to the U.S. markets.
As many of you know, cement is a grey powder that is mixed with crushed stone, sand, and water to make concrete. Cement is the glue that holds the concrete together. Cement is a strategic commodity and a critical component of our nation's infrastructure. Cement underpins the construction industry as the key ingredient in concrete, and there is little built without concrete. Each year, Canadians consume on average 33 million cubic metres of concrete, one cubic metre of concrete for every Canadian.
The current recession has seen the largest decline in Canadian and U.S. cement consumption since the Great Depression. Since peak consumption in 2006, Canadian cement consumption is down by almost 30%, and the U.S. consumption is down by almost 40%.
Canada's cement industry applauds the Government of Canada for introducing a stimulus package that has committed to significant renewal of the Canadian infrastructure. We recognize the challenges created in implementing the stimulus package and accelerating investments. We believe we need to encourage governments at all levels to maintain the pace of investment. Even though there may be weak signs of a recovery in the general economy, the global financial crisis has hit Canadian cement manufacturers hard, and we are still feeling the worst of the recession. The recession is not over for cement. The cement industry was the first to feel the impact of the recession, and we'll be the last to see the benefits of recovery.
In order to save time, I will quickly present the main recommendations found in our pre-budget submission.
I invite the committee members to examine our written submission. Let me focus on two important areas: infrastructure investment and climate change legislation.
With infrastructure spending in Canada, we have three messages: firstly, continue to get the committed funds out the door as quickly as possible; secondly, do not turn off the committed stimulus funds; and thirdly, make sure that we are spending infrastructure money wisely.
Concrete is a cost-effective, energy-efficient, and sustainable construction material essential to rebuilding Canada's infrastructure. Better highways, green buildings, and water and sewage installations are all made from sustainable concrete. The primary building material in public works and commercial construction, concrete creates jobs throughout the economy. For every 10 construction jobs created by a project, a community gains 17 additional jobs that stay in the region.
Infrastructure investments, whether using federal funds alone or matched by other jurisdictions, should also be accompanied by program guidelines that ensure that all new projects contribute to achieving Canada's sustainable development objectives. These objectives include enhancing energy efficiency, life-cycle costing, reducing greenhouse gases, reducing urban air pollution, ensuring clean water is available, managing waste efficiently, and ensuring safe and efficient mobility of citizens and trade.
Here's an example of a misguided policy. The engineering and construction industries are the best qualified to recommend the most suitable construction material for sustainable infrastructure. A private member's bill that would force the federal government to choose wood over other construction materials has been introduced in the House. This is a misguided bill that will not necessarily ensure that the best construction material is used for the job.
On climate change, in designing a greenhouse gas regulation, the government should align Canada's trade and climate change efforts with those of the U.S. on such issues as price signals, alignment on mid- and long-term climate objectives, and avoiding disruption of cross-border trade and border adjustments due to perceived differences in approach in greenhouse gas mitigation.
Finally, I would encourage committee members to take these key considerations into account and use this report to influence the budget for 2010. I hope these messages will be conveyed to other members of Parliament.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.