Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Patzer, for coming back to committee.
I worked on the CASIS agreement. That was my original legislation here, on the aftermarket for the auto sector. It was a voluntary agreement that was put in place. One of the problems we have now is the digital component to it. It was expected to be a problem.
One of the arguments against this.... For those who aren't aware, the bill was to provide the proper tools, training, materials and software to the aftermarket to fix automobiles: It's a public safety issue, an environmental issue and consumer choice issue. It was argued that this would be actually out of NAFTA too. I worry about that type of reasoning, because the reality was that the U.S. actually could have better legislation, because their Environmental Protection Act, outside of our trade agreement, actually gave consumers in the United States a better choice.
I'm wondering what you think about that and whether or not there's the high degree of concern or what the concern is. We refer to it as the “Canada‑United States‑Mexico Agreement” here. They refer to it as the “U.S.‑Mexico‑Canada agreement”, because Mexico signed it before us. We actually had to go back and sign it a second time.
They also have the Buy American Act, which is restrictive for Canadian companies. We have the Buy American Act, the softwood lumber dispute, dairy.... Buy local is also used against Canadians in terms of procurement from municipalities. On procurement, the U.S. defence industry is notorious for that, and there's also bus manufacturing. They all have restrictions on Canadians.
I'm wondering what concerns you might have if this is going to be used—as I guess a trade argument—against Canada. I'm a little less skeptical of the reasons not to go forth with, I guess, comprehensive legislation, because I'll conclude with this: The problem in my legislation is that it resulted in a voluntary agreement after there was agreement with the government, but it now has to be revisited because it's basically out of date. We're back to square one in many respects.
I'll turn it over to you. I thank you for your efforts.