We were a great supporter of the Canada-U.S. Auto Pact, which in many respects, I would say, was the most successful trade agreement that Canada was a part of. This was an agreement that used both carrots and sticks and provided tariff-free access to the Canadian market to a range of vehicle manufacturers and parts makers, but on the condition that they maintain some kind of proportional production presence here.
It is this Auto Pact that explains why Canada has an auto industry, and at one time a very disproportionate auto industry. In the late nineties, we were one of the most successful auto-producing jurisdictions in the world despite our northern location and our small size. That all had to do with active policy. It was a fair agreement. The trade was balanced, it went both ways, and both countries had a shot at the decent jobs that are in the industry.
A free trade agreement on the NAFTA model starts to take it in a different direction. Then it's dog eat dog and every country for themselves, and there's no guarantee at all that we will be left with anything like a proportionate presence in strategic industries like auto.