Thank you, Chair.
Chair, I do appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss matters related to the agreements between the Government of Canada and Stellantis pertaining to the Brampton assembly plant.
The committee's main point of interest appears to be how we have proposed to address your request for copies of the agreements, so I will focus my remarks on that issue specifically.
Let me begin by acknowledging the vital role the committee has played in informing, shaping, and advancing the effective functioning of government operations.
The committee's oversight is essential to maintaining public confidence and ensuring accountability within our institutions. We're grateful for these efforts and respect the need to maintain transparency when providing information to the committee.
When addressing matters of transparency and the disclosure of information related to agreements between the government and third parties, it is also important to recognize the commercially confidential nature of some of the information contained in these agreements. The public release of commercially confidential information can cause significant damage.
The automotive industry is highly competitive, and the information provided to governments when participating in government programming is shared with the understanding that it will be protected. This is equally the case in the aerospace sector, the artificial intelligence sector and other knowledge-based sectors in the economy.
This trust is critical to facilitating the sharing of information for us to be able to do due diligence on the information, and a breakdown in that trust undermines the government's ability to position itself as a partner in future agreements. Ultimately, trust between parties is key to ensuring that government funding drives innovation and competitiveness and is effective in growing the Canadian economy.
With this in mind, we are proposing to provide the committee with the contribution agreement for review, while keeping to a minimum the redactions meant to protect confidential business information. The redacting is less extensive than what the Access to Information Act allows. We are also proposing that the committee meet in camera to review the document.
I will note that this proposed approach mirrors how we have addressed similar requests by parliamentary committees in the past and facilitated the timely sharing of information with those committees. This approach also respects the agreements between Canada and Stellantis, one where we equally expect Stellantis to respect all of its terms.
Given the sensitive nature of the documents and my desire to be as transparent as possible while also being compliant with the department's contractual obligations, I would respectfully ask that the committee move in camera to ask any detailed, specific questions regarding the document provided.
I am confident that Parliament will appreciate the confidential nature of certain commercial information and will consider a solution that provides relevant information to support discussion and informed decision-making while protecting elements that could harm the Canadian economy.
Doing otherwise could undermine investment attraction and, in turn, jeopardize job creation and economic growth in Canada.
Thank you, Chair. I look forward to the questions.
