Industry Committee on June 6th, 2006

[Harvey Penner]

I don't know if Eve is speaking on behalf of the apparel industry or on behalf of her own personal views. Maybe Bob could add to that, because in my discussions with apparel manufacturers they have said that they would very much welcome the idea of outward processing.

We have people like Main Knitting operating in downtown Montreal with 2,500 employees. He's moving a lot of his production to India. Whether they have outward processing or not, he would very much welcome the opportunity of knitting, dyeing, and making his fabric here, and rather than having to import the total product, being able to import a Canadian product. There are other people I think who would be quite interested. So I'm not sure that there is that conflict about outward processing for all apparel manufacturers.

The other issue, of course, is that the major apparel manufacturers have already done it. Whether you look at Silver, or any of these other major players who get a lot of press, they are making all their products offshore, and they have a vested interest, in many cases, in bringing in the goods from Bangladesh because they've been able to take advantage of that low labour cost and no duties to be able to grow their market. I think some of these people would welcome the opportunity, if they were able, to have available fabric, to be able to design and develop their fabrics here, and to utilize that fabric by sending it offshore and having it produced, and marry it with the current production they have offshore as well, so that there would be some kind of balance.

So I don't think there is a total disagreement on outward processing, and I think on many of the other issues, like LDCs, we are in agreement. We are in agreement about market access. I think we're more in agreement than we've ever been before. I don't know if Bob would back that up, but maybe Liz would want to answer.

[Elizabeth Siwicki]

Bob made reference to the fact that we need decisions. The one thing we just can't tolerate any more, not as an industry but collectively, is inaction in the face of a few differences of opinion. What's happened over the years is that the government has failed to act because there were concerns about certain issues, and everything else got left behind as well. So I think we have to look at the bigger picture, and we have to look at what's going to keep the jobs and investment in Canada.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Mr. Kirke, go ahead, please.

[Bob Kirke]

I'm not going to say whether some companies want outward processing and some don't. Clearly, there would be differences of opinion in any industry. No single industry has one voice. None of us here would claim that. But I would say that we need to come to a conclusion about the key issues that drive our business, meaning input tariffs on textiles, and probably outward processing as part of the mix, whether as part of a sectoral approach or across the board.

I'll come back to what I said. We've been going at this for three years. I think all the departments concerned would like to get rid of us and just settle the matter. I believe that your committee can hasten that by making a clear statement that this has been going on since 2003. Enough already. Let's work out the major parts of the deal, taking into account the diversity of opinion, so that it minimizes the risk to Canadian companies, while conferring the benefits on as many companies as possible.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Madame Grenier, did you want to make a comment?

[Eve Grenier]

Well, maybe. I just want to make something a bit clearer as to the big picture of the Quebec apparel manufacturing scene. Yes, we do have some major players, like Main Knitting, like Peerless, like Mr. Penner; however, the picture of the industry is of smaller, family owned companies. Most of the companies employ fewer than 30 people, so it is an industry composed of many small manufacturers. And when I say that as president of AMIQ I cannot support it, in fact we are, in a sense, protecting the jobs of the smaller family owned companies.

I do agree that there are differences of opinion, and of course some of the bigger companies do have the means to establish relationships that will support outward processing. But this is not feasible for smaller companies.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Shipley.

I want to thank all of you for your time here this morning, for the purposes of this very important sectoral study. You've made a lot of recommendations, which is excellent because at the end of the study that is ultimately what we'll be looking at and debating as a committee.

If any of you have anything further you'd like to address to the committee in writing, please feel free to do so, either to me as the chair or to the clerk, and we will certainly get that to all members of the committee.

Again, thank you very much for being with us.

For the members, we will be taking a recess of about 15 minutes and then reconvening at 12 noon.

This meeting is adjourned.