Absolutely.
First of all, I'd like to thank everybody for having us down today. I must admit that I don't speak French. I have a town clerk who is bilingual, and she said “If you're going to Parliament Hill, Mayor Fenik, you must learn some French”. Hence I will practice what little French I have learned this week, after much practice.
Hello. Thank you for this invitation.
That took hours. I hope the delivery was great.
It is very much an honour and a privilege to be given this opportunity to address the committee and speak on behalf of the Town of Perth's industries, leaders, and citizens.
Just a snapshot of Perth: Perth is located about an hour's drive west of Parliament Hill. Perth has a population of just under 6,000 people. If you ever come and visit Perth, I promise it's a community that will captivate you with its beauty and charm. It was founded in 1860 as one of three military outposts established after the War of 1812 and it was settled by a Scottish regiment. As such, we have a wealth of Scottish stone buildings built by Scottish stonemasons. I'm proud of the fact that Perth has been the recipient of many awards, including the Heritage Canada Prince of Wales prize in 2004. We're a community that's fiercely protective of our heritage and the history we've inherited.
In addition to our strong heritage ties we have a large industrial base for a community our size. Our main industries include 3M, Albany International, Cutler Hammer, Eaton Yale, Central Wire, Grenville Castings, Omya, and Perth Soap. Our industrial base employs approximately a thousand people. The combined annual earnings of these companies is about $40 million.
As mayor, as I watched the rise of the Canadian dollar I became increasingly uncomfortable. And as all these industries are located in a very small town, I endeavoured to knock on some doors. I visited all our industries because I wanted firsthand information on how the rise of the Canadian dollar was affecting our industries. And on a very fundamental level, we all know the answers I received. The rise of the Canadian dollar was good for some and it wasn't good for others, depending on where you were with the import-export business. All the Canadian companies were wondering how long the dollar was going to be high, if there was going to be a stabilization, if this was an economic trend that would continue to go up and down. As such, they were all reacting very quickly in establishing contingency business plans.
I don't have an MBA, and I don't have a business background. I'm just a small-town mayor. But I have to tell you, when I visited these companies I was amazed at how fiercely proud they were of the products they were doing. These companies, these industry leaders said if they were given the right set of circumstances they could compete anywhere in the world and be successful. Their products are good, their people are sound, their manufacturing bases are excellent. But there were some basic issues that were current with all companies, and I'll touch on them very briefly.
The companies spoke of having a level playing field and access to federal dollars that could help tide them through difficult times. They also thought about products and they wanted to emphasize when I came here that there really had to be adopted, from a federal, provincial, and municipal level, an attitude of shopping at home. For example, Larry Smith, the owner of Central Wire, makes welding wire. He can make welding wire for anything. He makes welding wire for airplanes. He said it's very difficult to see federally subsidized contracts for airplanes, whether it be Bombardier or whatever, and these companies are buying welding wire from Brazil or eastern bloc countries when he can provide the same wire at almost the same cost. So it was heartbreaking to see those industries with federal contracts going outside the country for supportive products to make these products.
Some of our manufacturing bases were saying, at Perth Soap, for example, they were feeling the effect of rising....
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