Finance committee  Maybe I'll start, Jayson. Had those things not occurred and continued to happen, I can say with a great deal of confidence that the most recent investments would not have happened. That's very clear. The question is—and I've talked about upping our game—that we need to capitalize on what we have, but when you look at the packages of incentives that other jurisdictions are putting together, they are massive.

Finance committee  Basically, it's stay the course, but be cognizant of what's going on in other jurisdictions that are aggressively seeking these new investment decisions. Clearly they have upped their game. They are being very aggressive. Let's continue to keep what we're doing because it's all extremely helpful and absolutely necessary, but let's be mindful of what's going on around us.

Finance committee  Yes. As you know, in the auto industry we came out of the dark years of 2008 and 2009 hurting very badly. It's true that we made some very hard decisions that resulted in job losses, to the tune of about 40,000 jobs, in the auto industry. We took out unused capacity. We became much more productive.

Finance committee  It has helped tremendously not just CVMA members but all vehicle manufacturers who actually produce here. We have, as I mentioned, supports in the form of the automotive investment fund. We have a very significant effort on the issue of standards harmonization on a North American basis.

Finance committee  That's correct.

Finance committee  It was: The message I would like to impart to you today is that in a highly competitive environment for global automotive investment decisions, there are factors more in the control of government than the price of oil that would have a greater positive impact.

Finance committee  Sure. First off, I mentioned the automotive innovation fund. Clearly, making that fund competitive with other competing jurisdictions and benchmarking with other jurisdictions—

Finance committee  Well, you would have to look at this in the context of what is appropriate for Canada vis-à-vis Mexico: what we can afford, what we can build upon in terms of our competitiveness here, and the combination of other policies that will contribute to our—

Finance committee  No, but we have other things we can build upon, and there are other things we can do. We've had three major investments recently; that's in the context of the current competitive environment, so we can do more. Standards harmonization is another area that provides real benefits to our industry on a North American basis.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and good morning. From the CVMA's perspective, we expect lower oil prices will have a mixed effect on the auto sector for consumer purchases and manufacturing operations. If there are four points I'd like to leave you with today, they would be as follows: First, automobile manufacturing looks at the long term for investment decision-making and for establishing business contracts with suppliers and transportation services.

Finance committee  Yes, I would very much appreciate that opportunity. We are faced with, as I said, landmark regulations for greenhouse gas emissions reductions. It's going to take a multiple technology pathway. The technology, of course.... Certainly in the United States, for instance, there are programs in place that focus specifically on not just the basic or pure research side of universities, but also, as I said, the innovation and new product development in commercialization.

Finance committee  Certainly in respect to the ACCA and the counterpart program in the United States, there are differences. The U.S. program generally gives more latitude, I think, some different methods of calculations, and so forth, but they include things that we don't include in Canada. I think it would make sense at least to benchmark our program with their program.

Finance committee  Actually, the auto industry hasn't, but Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters did. I believe it was last November. I'm sure we can make that report available to you. It is a very good report, and it does give a direct comparison of those programs.

Finance committee  There are a couple of key things here. Those loans took us to where we are now. We are in a sort of three- to five-year cycle on new investments. We are there now. We should have had, quite frankly, some of the investments that have gone to the southern United States and Mexico.

Finance committee  They are putting bigger packages together. They're putting packages together that get rid of all the administrative burden. They're making it very easy and they're very timely. The key thing here is the speed at which the decisions are being made and therefore the speed at which the applications for these incentives are being granted—key elements.