I was part of that original CAPC meeting. It was well done. We brought not only the industry together on a competitive level, but we also brought together the parts people, the tool and die makers, the mould makers, and basically everybody involved from producing a vehicle to actually selling it and servicing it. Allan Rock created that.
Since then, though, I don't think CAPC has been very active, not in the last 10 years anyway, in my opinion. It's had some goals, and it's had some things. You could go on the website. Some governments have not really had any meetings at all.
The reality is that we can't actually create our own strategy. Many have. There's ProMéxico. I was in China, and I met with their auto industry. They had over 100 companies. It was similar to when Canada created the industry. We had over 100 automotive manufacturers at that time. You mentioned Walkerville. It is interesting how one of the first manufacturers got free hydro to produce their vehicles in Windsor. You also have the whole strategy behind the United States right now, with Obama and also with some trade restrictions, even on the border, that have made it more difficult to compete within the realm of our integrated market.
We have training. We have patents. We have R and D. We have a skilled workforce. We have safety productivity that's through the roof in terms of our competition. It's very attractive. We have the history. We just don't have a game plan when we get down to the 10-yard line. It's like we get down there in a football game, and we decide to spike the ball before getting a touchdown because we don't want a greenfield site anymore.
I think what's really important is to see us come out of this with specific things. One of the things that hasn't been touched on is the extension of the capital cost allowance. We're going to review that, and I think it's one of the things that this committee came to a good resolution on before.
Back in the original plan, I argued for a 10-year window, five years with the potential for a five-year renewal. I wonder what your thoughts are on that. I know that we keep getting about two-year renewals, and so forth. Those are some of the investment strategies that have already had decisions made on them.
What I'm looking for are the mid-term to long-term ones. Would extending the capital cost allowance to five years with a five-year renewal, for a total of 10 years, at least help?
One of the reasons I like that strategy, and it does have its detractions, is that it's harder for those who take advantage of the capital cost allowance to move a piece of equipment to China. Whether it be tool and die, mould making, or whatever it might be, if Canadian taxpayers are going to invest in it, the writeoff and everything for that which they invest in as a population is harder to actually dislodge through a general corporate tax cut. It's a carrot-and-stick approach that is a little more appropriate in my evaluation.
At any rate, I'd like to hear what you think about whether or not the capital cost allowance should be continued. To credit certain governments, they have extended it, so it hasn't disappeared, but it hasn't been to the longer cycle that some are advocating.