Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, members of the committee. My name is François Beauchesne and I am co-owner of a private company operating in the plastics industry. Currently, we employ approximately 300 people at our Granby, Quebec, facility, in addition to maintaining a sales offices in Barry, Ontario, and two plastic processing plants in Michigan and Georgia.
We specialize in the manufacture of products such as moulds, high-performance insulation, protective equipment such as hockey helmets, bicycle helmets, hockey gloves and shin pads. We supply packaging for commodities such as electrical appliances, furniture and so on.
Industrial workers and entrepreneurs face numerous challenges, including today's main topic of discussion, piracy and the protection of intellectual property. With our flagship product, NUDURA, we certainly have a bright future and we are optimistic. But with counterfeit products from Asia, and more specifically, China, we are nonetheless worried about wide-scale counterfeiting.
As we speak we are victims of intellectual property theft. Four American companies are currently copying our patents in force, but with our limited means, we cannot invest the millions of dollars required for rapid and proactive protection. Every day, many contracts are lost, and instead of progressing and creating jobs, we are presently experiencing negative growth and have had to lay off employees. We are working on an action plan to counter the American companies, but if the Asian companies copy us, then who are we going to prosecute and, above all, how?
Our customers are victims of industrial counterfeiting by Asian companies too. In 1997, a 160,000 square foot building was built to produce bicycle helmets for Bell Helmets. For economic reasons, they changed their business plan and purchased from China instead. At that time, our annual production was 3 million units with peaks of 30,000 helmets per day, which created at least 50 jobs, in addition to creating jobs for our customers and our suppliers.
To this, we can add the purchase of components for the Canadian manufacturing operation, such as boxes, conveyors, finishing materials, etc. The objective was to manufacture up to 10 million units annually, with at least $50 million in economic spinoffs for component purchases, salaries and taxes. But then, the entire, fine project went to Asia.
We also have a customer located in Quebec, Louis Garneau Sports, the pride of Quebec. The same thing happened with this company. They tried to avoid sending production to China, but, unfortunately, the last made-in-Canada products will be produced this summer.
An administrative decision based on economic performance is acceptable. If someone can make a product as well as we do at a better price, then fine, that's the principle of competition. But if these companies do not have to contend with the same social and environmental constraints, if they have no respect for intellectual property, then you, our representatives, should take action and do something to limit their encroachment, or even prohibit the entry of certain products into the country.
Is this protectionism? Certainly. Given the extent of our unfavourable trade balance with China, it is inconceivable that our ideas, jobs and economy could be forfeited without any reaction whatsoever on our part. If you disagree with this, please explain. Enlighten me.
To conclude my little story, the Asian companies that have manufactured products for Bell and Louis Garneau have learned how to manufacture. They know the North American market demand, they have obtained customers' addresses, and they have started selling directly to Bell and Garneau customers products that are identical in every way, except for the logo, which is so similar that it fools most people. The result is a total loss, for our customers, for us, and for our suppliers, not to mention the governments that have lost the revenues being generated by such significant economic activity. These people have stolen the design and pirated the product. They have betrayed their professional and economic relationship with our companies and our country.
Thank you for allowing me to speak. I am now prepared to answer any questions you may have.