Thank you, Chair.
I'll speak in support of this motion. We're at a critical juncture with respect to our auto industry and so many other industries in this country.
As we know, Americans have launched unjustified tariffs on a variety of our sectors. I've heard from people in my riding about everything from the aluminum sector to the furniture manufacturing sector to the steel supply chain. One by one, these companies are suffering at an alarming rate. Some companies have even told me that for the products they export to the U.S., they're now at the point where they need to consider opening up facilities inside the United States.
We heard the consequences very sharply here at the industry committee and when we had our emergency debate on the auto sector. To remind people at this committee and those watching at home, $14 billion is what the auto industry contributes to our GDP, as well as 125,000 direct jobs, and 8% of manufacturing jobs in Canada are in the auto sector. Every job at an automotive assembly plant supports nine additional jobs, the highest external benefit multiplier of any sector in Canada. That is the severity of what we're facing here.
We've seen GM, for instance, threaten 1,200 workers from their Ingersoll plant. We've seen GM invest $4 billion in the U.S., being forced to drive money there because of these unjustified tariffs. The fact remains that we were supposed to get a deal by July 21 of this year, yet that hasn't happened.
We've also heard at this committee about some other measures we could have taken to support the auto sector. In fact, some auto executives have said there's one thing the government could do right now to support the auto sector, and that is to remove the EV mandate.
I asked some of the members of the auto team—Huw Williams, for instance—directly about the EV mandate and about how it impacts our competitiveness. His response to my question was, “I would absolutely say the EV mandate makes us less competitive and not just domestically. It makes us a less attractive market for investment.”
How about Brian Kingston from the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association? I asked him what he thought about the pause and if it gave the industry the certainty that it requires. He said, “a one-year pause doesn't change the fact that companies have to contract for credits out to 2035. They have to make sure they have the certainty that they can still operate in this market. The pause hasn't provided any additional certainty.”
What about Flavio Volpe from the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association? He said, “You may have heard me say from the beginning that the EV mandate was unachievable, unworkable and not based in reality”.
We tried to put a motion forward to the House to get the Liberals to repeal the EV mandate immediately to support the sector. Since we weren't able to get consensus on this committee for that, at the very least I'm hoping that this committee will agree unanimously that it's time to move this motion to the House so we can have this serious debate on the floor of the House of Commons to give Canadian workers in the auto sector and all sectors in this country the debate they deserve, the transparency and accountability they deserve and the results they deserve.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.