Evidence of meeting #4 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was housing.
A video is available from Parliament.
6:35 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Aluminium Association of Canada
Yes, and that's what I was going to talk about.
6:35 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Aluminium Association of Canada
I think that signing is a way to limit the discussion to the three main players, who have agreed on a perimeter within which the three economies can work. We have a lot of work to do. We have a full agenda for our industry and probably for others. We need to clarify situations and modernize the way in which trade takes place. I have given some examples. They include traceability, as well as oversight and surveillance mechanisms. We have negotiated agreements based on what we wanted to change in the previous agreement and considering the current situation of each of our economies. The next step is to determine how to ensure that we take advantage of modern technology and modern ways of doing things to govern those agreements.
6:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
We have to stop there.
I do have one question for Mr. Van Wielingen. I talked earlier about the great divide that we have between the environment and the energy industry, and I made note of your three points.
We had the Green Budget Coalition in here earlier this morning, and I had a good talk with the gentleman afterwards. I think there is a real willingness to try to find some solutions here.
From your perspective, how can we get past these two sides basically talking past each other and utilize our natural resources and our energy industry in such a way that, over time, we move toward an environmental solution?
6:40 p.m.
Founder and Partner, ARC Financial Corp.
I really appreciate the question. For me, that arguably is the most important question that we have with respect to energy and creating a more unified view of our interests in energy and with western Canada.
I want to speak openly and candidly. I'm saying this to everybody publicly, so this is not the first time.
Going into the next national election campaign, my greatest fear is that the rhetoric heats up again and that it might even become worse. The polarization increases and the anger increases. This time there is something different. I don't mind saying this, because it's factual. The Wexit party is now a registered national party and has committed itself to having a candidate in every federal riding in western Canada. I'm worried about it. I'm worried that people are going to go into those voting booths and they're going to be angry.
What, then, if we have a surprise outcome and have a separatist party representing a large number of Canadians in the west? I know that political strategists looked at all that and lots of calculations are being made. As a Canadian, I worry about it.
I'm extremely concerned about our national unity. I am very exposed to a lot of those kinds of discussions. With respect to the Canada pension plan, and Alberta's participation in the Canada pension plan, I think the probability is very high that Alberta is going to launch a formal process to withdraw. That's about $3 billion of transfers that, in a sense, would be left within Alberta, but it means that Canadians have to pay more. I think that is a big issue. There are a number of actions like that under way, and it's unfortunate.
6:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
We have your three points. Thank you for those, because we do have to find some solutions there.
With that, I thank all the witnesses for their presentations and their answers to questions, and I thank committee members for their indulgence as well.
We'll adjourn until tomorrow.
The meeting is adjourned.
