Thank you very much, Chair, for the invitation to be a witness here at this committee.
My name is Bill Miller. I own Amalgamated Trading. We are an importer of steel in western Canada. I have been involved in the steel industry for over 25 years. Our main suppliers are Asian countries, and our main market is western Canada, from B.C. to Manitoba. We sell a bit into eastern Canada, but not very much.
I was born in Hamilton, Ontario, so I was born in Steeltown. My family then took me to B.C., which is a little bit nicer than Hamilton. I come from a large family. My family has been employed in the Canadian steel mills and supported by the Canadian steel mills. I respect the Canadian steel mills and what they have to offer our economy in eastern Canada, but as an importer, I firmly believe there is room for imported steel and there is room for domestically produced steel.
Importing steel has a large impact on our economy in western Canada. I am speaking of western Canada because I import more into western Canada than I do into eastern Canada.
Our current trade cases and their direct impact on Canadian producers are what I'd like to speak about because currently we have 47 trade cases against steel, and 19 countries that are affected against steel imports. I think that we have trade cases on over 50% of the products that are produced by Canadian steel mills.
Now it is important that we have trade cases, and it's important that we have the laws to protect Canadian steel producers, and I think those laws are very effective. I think our trade department is very quick and effective on implementing anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties, but I also believe that it is an eastern Canadian protectionism more than it is western Canadian.
When we're importing steel into western Canada, we're paying a freight charge from Asia to Vancouver of $45 to $50 per metric ton. When we bring it from Ontario to western Canada, we are paying $120 per metric ton. That's by rail. If we bring it via truck, we're paying nearly $200 per metric ton.
What I'm asking the committee, and what I'd like the consideration to be is, for a geographical case in anti-dumping more than just blanketing the country. I understand we have to protect the Canadian steel mills, and I support that. I support the employment of Canadian steel mills. As much as I think that the U.S. is going to take the steel production out of Canada, I still believe that the employment and the economic benefit of Canadian steel mills are directly related to eastern Canada. It does not affect western Canada.
Canadian steel mills are not interested in selling into western Canada. It's not their main market. Their main market is eastern Canada and the United States. With the current dollar, we are very competitive in the United States. Now, I think that a lot of our steel production is going to leave Canada because the Trump government is going to reduce corporate taxes, and steel is a three- or four-step process, where U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal can probably produce slab in the United States for cheaper than they would be able to do it in Canada with the corporate taxes being reduced.
I'd like the consideration to be in a geographical trade case. We have had it recently with gypsum or drywall where we have dump duties in western Canada. We have them in the territories. We have them in some of the eastern provinces, but Quebec and Ontario are open to import gypsum. I'd like that consideration in steel for western Canadian manufacturers, whether of steel studs, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or construction. If we have the cost of transportation from Ontario to B.C. manufactured, those B.C. companies also sell as far as Manitoba. How can they compete against the eastern manufacturer of the same product when they only have one transportation cost?
I think the precedence was set in a geographical trade case in the gypsum case, and I'd like that consideration for any trade cases in steel.