International Trade Committee on May 26th, 2026

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

I have one final question in my last seconds. I want to make sure that I'm mindful of the time.

The government wants a strong electric vehicle market in Canada, as I understand it. Is it helpful to allow about a third of that market to be served by Chinese imports? Should we not be trying to restrict that production to Canadian manufacturers?

[Brendan Sweeney]

Our members welcome competition, and we do well when we compete with other automakers on a level playing field. If any automakers, no matter where they're from, want to come to Canada, invest billions and billions of dollars over decades, hire people, pay them well, bring suppliers in, engage Canadian suppliers and compete on that basis, we welcome that competition—as long as it's on a level playing field. Our members compete with other automakers in North America on a level playing field, and it's worked out well.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you for your valuable contributions to the economy.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you, Mr. Sweeney.

Mr. Lavoie.

[Steeve Lavoie, Liberal, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here.

We're going to stay on the same topic. I hesitated before asking you my question, Mr. Sweeney, but I really liked what my colleague brought up, so I'd like to continue the discussion on that. You will probably help me think this through.

Last March, I had the opportunity to go to Norway. You know that, over the past year, all the new vehicles sold in Norway have been electric vehicles.

Chinese electric cars, for example, account for about 10% of sales in Norway. There are no restrictions. It is largely the consumers who decide. Consumers just prefer other cars, probably cars like the ones you produce. I can't quite figure that out.

You also said that the Norwegians had to invest here. I agree with you. Your contribution is essential to Canada. However, I can't tell whether the Norwegian model, which lets consumers choose, could be replicated here.

Could you shed some light on that for me?

[Brendan Sweeney]

The Norwegian market for vehicles is smaller than and different from Canada's. I'll put that out first.

Consumer choice is good when the companies from which those consumers are purchasing vehicles compete on a level playing field. That's the type of competition we favour.

[Steeve Lavoie, Liberal, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you for that.

Mr. Lee, representatives of the Canadian Bankers Association will be in Ottawa tomorrow.

I know that the government has introduced measures to help first-time homebuyers, particularly when it comes to the goods and services tax.

Have the banks adapted over the past two or three years, both for builders and for individuals?

Do you feel that they're adapting and helping you overcome all of this?

[Kevin Lee]

There haven't really been changes in, let's say, construction financing from financial institutions, other than it's getting more difficult. It's been getting harder and harder to get construction financing with the volatile markets and increased risks. We find it's been more difficult. It is one of the things we're asking for.

We believe there's actually a role for the federal government to support construction financing, and that's doubly true. We were speaking earlier about factory-built and, in particular, modular construction. It's very difficult to get financing from banks for 3-D modular homes because they're not on site, and the banks perceive that as more risk. We are looking for more financing to support construction.

[Steeve Lavoie, Liberal, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

I'll give the rest of my time to my colleague.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you very much to the witnesses for being here today. What we have discussed is very interesting.

Mr. Lee, you said that the three levels of government had to work together when it came to construction. You mentioned municipalities.

Could you tell us more about that?

[Kevin Lee]

There's no question that municipalities have a huge role in helping or hindering more housing.

The biggest challenge we have faced over the past years has been development charges, development taxes, which have gone up 700% and are worse in our largest cities. We see taxes to the level of over 30% now, for example, in cities in Ontario, which is unsustainable. We definitely need to find alternative means to finance the infrastructure and other amenities that have crept into these development taxes. That's a big issue.

We also need to be able to approve things faster. It's become very slow in the places where we need the most houses.

We do a municipal benchmarking study every couple of years. It's not surprising that the places that have the best affordability are able to approve and permit things much faster. Where is it the worst? It's in the GTA and the Lower Mainland in B.C. That's where we need the most houses, but it takes the longest to get anything approved and permitted.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Don't forget Montreal.

[Kevin Lee]

There is Montreal.

I will say that in la belle province of Quebec, they actually do development taxes much better. I will say that. It's a model that the rest of Canada could benefit from. Things are distributed better across the tax base, and we're not using new homebuyers to pay the freight on everything.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you very much.

I'd like to ask an open-ended question to both witnesses.

How can Canada reduce its economic vulnerability while maintaining strong integration into the North American market?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Give a brief answer.

[Kevin Lee]

That's a tricky one, because the vulnerability right now is obviously coming from our integrated market. I think we all recognize that it would be better if we could have an integrated market without risk.

I think re-establishing CUSMA moving forward is going to be critical. I think that more trade agreements with the rest of the world will also be really important. Also, we need to be smart about where we can do better with Canadian companies to have more value added and help protect ourselves. It has to be all three that we move forward with to lower risk as much as possible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much. That's the time. I'm sorry to both of you.

Thank you to our witnesses. It was very valuable. Who knows? We may have you come back and provide some additional information.

I need some comments back from the committee. On our calendar, we were planning to do an interim report on what we've heard so far on CUSMA but continue to have witnesses. I need to hear some direction. Does the committee want to do an interim report on CUSMA, or do you want to continue?

Go ahead, Mr. Chambers.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Instead of an interim report, I'd rather have another meeting with witnesses we can invite to come rather than draft an interim report, which will eventually be overtaken by a final report anyway. I think we could use that time in a more valuable way.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Naqvi, go ahead with your comment.

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Yes, we concur. I don't think there's a need for an interim report. Perhaps you can get a couple more witnesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay. To our analysts, thank you for pulling it together, but I think the committee wants to go in that direction. We'll continue to have witnesses. We'll have our report when we have a final report.

Thank you all very much.

Thank you, gentlemen.

The meeting is adjourned.