Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses.
Off the top, I'm going to have to dispute some of the things Mr. Hinton has brought to the panel. We're trying to move up the supply chain, not down. This is simply a return.
When we're talking about Chinese EVs, they're 3% of the total. That's lower than the total number of imported Kias that come here. We already see the value of Toyota and Honda, with Toyota building cars right here in Canada. I think the alarmist view is a bit over the top. There are 125,000 direct jobs and 500,000 indirect jobs.
I'll go to Mr. McKinnon with my questions.
We heard a lot from the previous panel. We know what's taking place in the auto sector with respect to the tariffs. Mr. Hinton talked about how there's no inkling of free trade between the U.S. and Canada. I think that's also false.
Moving forward, in a recent report, Statistics Canada said, “Wholesale sales (excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain) rose 2.0% to $86.8 billion in February. Sales increased in five of the seven subsectors”, with the motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts and accessories subsector up 6.1%. How can Canada's auto sector capitalize on these gains?