Evidence of meeting #5 for International Trade in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was agreement.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON
There's been some really excellent testimony. We'll be going all day, from 11 a.m. until later this evening, and there are a lot of good ideas. Some are not necessarily attached to the NAFTA but are good ideas.
We talked about procurement. Algoma Steel produces steel. Sixty per cent of it is shipped to the United States and 40%—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
I'm sorry, but your time is up.
Mr. Savard-Tremblay, you have two and a half minutes.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
I'll try to pick up where we left off. You were talking about the states' ongoing discussions to come up with a solution that would close the potential gaps.
Since you're very familiar with North American markets in general, can you explain why Mexico would want to introduce anti-dumping measures or increased verification measures for rules of origin? Mexico doesn't seem to have any spontaneous interest in moving in that direction.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Aluminium Association of Canada
Your question is very relevant.
I think that Mexico's interest is the American market. Obviously, the new market framework established by this agreement makes it possible for the signatories to operate on a level playing field.
If Mexico fails to comply with the agreements, especially the May 17 agreement, which runs parallel to CUSMA, the United States could retaliate against Mexico. Through CUSMA, the United States can re-issue a tariff, as Mr. Sheehan mentioned earlier. Canada can do the same.
Canada has done its job, so we're in a good position to apply pressure. Mexico hasn't done anything yet. It should do its job. The Americans are in the best position to apply pressure because they could turn around overnight and tell Mexico that metal is entering the country in violation of the agreement and that it has a month to resolve the situation before they impose tariffs.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
This is all in cases where the discussions are successful.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Aluminium Association of Canada
It's in the May 17 joint statement. These are Canada-United States and Mexico-United States bilateral agreements. These are matching agreements to remove tariffs. It's still there.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
Thank you.
Mr. Williams, I just want to pick up on a comment you made earlier about investment in manufacturing in Canada struggling to attract that investment. One of the reasons for that is that Mexico is a low-wage economy, and that has caused a lot of jobs in the auto manufacturing sector to leave Canada.
In your opinion, is there any hope that some of the labour provisions of this agreement are going to help incent automakers to locate production in Canada, or do you think that the discrepancy between Canadian wages and Mexican wages, along with whatever other input costs there would be, are going to continue the trend of taking production out of Canada and locating it in Mexico?
Director, Public Affairs, Canadian Automobile Dealers Association
It's a great question, and I think that there are reasons to be optimistic.
First of all, Canada has a great value proposition with a consistent supply of energy, a highly educated workforce, a track record in the factories in Canada of high levels of quality and reliability that are award winning across the sector. All of those things are counterbalances to the draw of Mexico and the United States, but we can't be blind to that draw of cost.
That's where we make sure we put the most competitive mix forward in terms of what the cost structure is and also the ease of coming here in terms of doing business. That's what we have to make sure the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and his provincial counterparts are keying into, putting the best value proposition forward, because those other jurisdictions are really selling some of those other provisions.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
At what point does it become a problem for your industry if Canadians don't have the kind of good-paying manufacturing jobs that enable them to buy the cars they're making? For a while, I think, folks in the auto industry have been able to increase their margins as production moves down to Mexico and the cars come back up to Canada. At what point does your industry start to worry that folks in Canada just don't have enough well-paying jobs to be able to afford the product that you sell?
Director, Public Affairs, Canadian Automobile Dealers Association
As I said earlier, I appreciate the question.
I think that our production levels are matching our consumption levels, and there are reasons to be optimistic about that. However, taking the long-term view, the most important thing is the value to the economy. I mean, certainly car dealers are affected by that as the economy goes, but not having a sustained manufacturing sector focused on the auto industry becomes a huge problem for Canada.
Certainly there have been automotive analysts who have talked about Canada taking on more of the intellectual high-end, high-tech sector, and from the member for Essex in the Windsor area, we've seen investments in the Windsor area, the University of Windsor and elsewhere.
We have to continue to focus on that high level of expertise. At the end of the day, if we don't have a successful car industry in this country, it's going to hurt everybody across the economy, and dealers feel it, too. That connection to successful manufacturing bases makes our voice in those product decisions and everything else more and more relevant.
NDP
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
I doubt I have much more time, but is there anybody else who would like to weigh in on that question with the time remaining?
Director, Public Affairs, Canadian Automobile Dealers Association
To answer your question about the Chamber of Commerce and their effort on the free trade initiative, one of the important things was that all—and I give the opposition credit for this, but also the ministers—made sure that Canadian associations weren't just talking to Canadians about what was important about free trade. Everybody picked up the phone, got on the plane and flew down to Washington. I know there were members of this committee that did that, and I think that was really pivotal, bringing the association members of the chamber under one banner, to get our American counterparts to recognize that they need Canada as much as we need them.
Thank you.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Surrey—Newton, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to thank all of the presenters. You have already answered many of the questions that were asked by the members.
Madam Chair, I want to bring up the working hours for next week. Before I do this, I want to thank all the members of this committee, not only the Liberals but the Conservatives, Bloc and NDP, for putting in extended hours to get this done before February 28.
I have had discussions with the members and I propose these hours. On Monday the 24th, the committee sits from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. On Tuesday the 25th, the committee sits from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and again from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. On Wednesday the 26th, the committee sits from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m, and on Thursday the 27th, the committee sits from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
If we can get the witnesses done on the 24th, 25th or 26th, then on the 27th we can do clause-by-clause. If we still have witnesses to come forward on the 27th, then we'll do the clause-by-clause on the 28th.
I talked to the Bloc and NDP members, because it's a long time frame and members might have other duties, and no motions will be entertained unless everybody is present.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
It's wonderful to see the co-operation and how everybody recognizes how important it is for us to make sure we get through this.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
First, you'd better earn the fish or the lobster or whatever it is you require me to bring here as your chair.
This is a gentleman's agreement. I didn't add this up, but it's probably about 25 hours.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
At four witnesses per hour, it's 100 witnesses, plus what we're doing this week is 40 witnesses. We're at 140 witnesses.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Based on the motion we approved this morning, we need to give the clerk some time to be able to put all of this together.
Daniel Blaikie NDP Elmwood—Transcona, MB
If I might say, I respect that we had some previous discussions, but I think it makes sense to have this pass as a resolution of the committee so that it's formalized in that way. We should move it and pass it. It doesn't look as if we need a lot of debate, but I think it would be good if it passed as a resolution.