Mr. Julian, thank you for your question.
Indeed, the AIF has been essential to new automotive investment in this country. Were it not for some of that investment fund being made available, some of the new investments in flexible manufacturing facilities and research and development activities in Canada would not have happened, pure and simple.
Now, as global companies, manufacturing incentives are probably more important now than ever in our history. Any country that either has an automotive industry now or wishes to have an automotive industry is providing huge incentives to attract new investment or maintain what they have. Just look south of the border in the United States. The most recent example is the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee. It got 57.7% of its total investment paid for. That is huge.
If we want to be competitive and retain jobs and the spin-off benefits associated with an auto industry, we need to be competitive. In fact, we need a competitive edge when it comes to manufacturing incentives. That is why we continue to recommend that the AIF be re-established, and that it be flexible and have sufficient capacity to compete with these other jurisdictions that are very successful, with the incentives they are providing. So the AIF, from our perspective, is essential for Canada's auto industry.