Thank you, Madam Chair.
I thank my colleague for his comment.
I believe we can propose a friendly amendment that could answer some of the questions from my Bloc colleague and assure him of some of the concerns he's raised to me. I'll propose that after some of my comments.
What we're doing is responding to an issue the government has mandated and to the questions and concerns that have been expressed to us, as parliamentarians, across this country. Not only are individual constituents responding to us, but I'm also hearing from the major auto producers—Ford, General Motors—that have great concerns with this government's EV mandate, and that have asked the government to backtrack from its position. In fact, the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association has come forward, stating that the government is wrong in its EV mandate position. It's essentially saying that, with the U.S. tariffs now in place—it's quoted from X—pursuing that policy would be like “putting the puck in our own net”, and I agree with them.
I have a GM V8 engine facility just next door to my riding in St. Catharines, and I also have one that is local, in Tonawanda, New York, which is not even a 30-minute drive away. GM just made the largest engine investment it's ever made, $888 million, into the facility in Tonawanda, New York. Do you know what, Madam Chair? We make the exact same engine as they do in Tonawanda. It's the V8 that goes into the Silverado, and we make a Silverado in Oshawa. What has GM done? They shut down a third shift in Oshawa.
My GM facility in St. Catharines is two million square feet in size. I had the pleasure of working there for four summers as a student, as a university student. They put me through university, and I'm brand loyal because of it. The vehicle I drive today is a 2022 Buick Enclave. Its engine was made in St. Catharines. The vehicle was manufactured in Michigan. What happened recently? General Motors removed that V6 engine line from St. Catharines, with the hope that one day they would pursue EV engines. Guess what. They put that on hold.
Ford Motor Company has put on hold EV production at Oakville. In fact, it is going back to ICE engine production and vehicle production in Oakville because the demand from consumers is not there. What is challenging for the auto sector in Canada is that the jobs that are going to be impacted.
The United States, through its tariffs, and this president.... He's made it abundantly clear that his job is to ensure that auto workers are employed in the United States and not in Canada, so why is it that this government is helping him do that? What we're doing is driving investment, auto investment, out of Canada. General Motors just made another $4-billion announcement, taking jobs out of Mexico and returning them to Michigan. Why is it that this government, through its policies and pursuing this EV mandate, is almost complicit in helping Donald Trump achieve what he's looking to do, which is to return jobs to Michigan?
Do you know what, Madam Chair? I want to ensure that there are still good-paying auto sector jobs in southern Ontario. There was a report in The Globe and Mail just the other day that said we are at risk of losing 50,000 auto worker jobs. That would be devastating for the Canadian economy. Since the 1960s, the success of the auto sector, in both Canada and the United States, was based on the regulatory harmony that existed between both countries, from the Auto Pact on. That regulatory harmony was looking at both countries. What they did, in a sense, was that they controlled what came out of the tailpipe. They didn't regulate what the consumer purchased in terms of a vehicle.
They regulated the environmental standards that needed to be pursued. Both countries agreed to that. They then left it not only to the consumer to decide but to the manufacturer to get in line to do that. We are nowhere near that with this EV mandate. Ford, GM and even Honda are telling us not to pursue this. It's astounding to see a government continue to pursue something that's going to fail so miserably.
What we're seeking to do is ask, “Do we even have the capacity here, for example, in Ontario, to be ready for that?” I know that the Independent Electricity System Operator in Ontario did a report in December of 2023. That report dealt with what it is going to take for Ontario to get to net zero as a province in terms of electrical production. The federal government tried to say to the provinces, “Let's do it by 2035.” Guess what. That was simply impossible, and the provinces let the federal government know that. In that report, it said that, in Ontario, it's going to take us to 2050 to get there, and that it was going to cost $400 billion to do so. That would take us from 42,000 megawatts to 88,000 megawatts. The Ontario government is doing it. It's pursuing small modular reactors, for example. That's a key policy plank, and do you know what? I'm pleased that they're doing that. I have companies in my riding such as E.S. Fox that are going to be important companies in helping to build that out.
As of today, we are in no position to be ready for a 100% vehicle mandate. That's why we put forward this motion. I think we can propose a friendly amendment to answer some of the concerns that my Bloc colleague had as well as my Liberal friend's earlier concerns, so that we look at the issue without touching upon the jurisdictional issues that he mentioned earlier on. I think we can get there with your support, and I want to propose that friendly amendment now, if I could.
