Environment committee  I would say that there's a globalized nature to how the industry works. Everyone knows this. One of the advances that we've been making within trade policy, especially under the USMCA, is looking at how labour standards and stronger environmental standards can play a role. Part of developing a national auto strategy is that we are going to have to rethink some of these trade policies that we have in place, including labour, as well as policies that restrict our ability to localize content rules when it comes to fleet purchases and things of that nature.

Environment committee  I think some trade agreements become the barriers, trade agreements like the Canada-European Union trade agreement, which tries to put in place roadblocks for provinces, municipalities and the federal government to establish local content requirements for all types of vehicles: rolling stock vehicles, anything through public procurement.

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  I appreciate your comment about how we like to speak a lot, so I was laughing as you said that. That's very good, but you are 100% right. One of the pieces in the landscape of the auto industry in Canada is that people think this is a southern Ontario proposition and it's restricted to what's happening down in the Windsor to Oshawa corridor.

Environment committee  I suppose there would be an added benefit for the federal government to wade in, in this case. I couldn't tell you on a measurable scale what that would mean for future assembly, other than to say it would be an example of how all jurisdictions need to pull these pieces together.

Environment committee  Thanks for that. This is something we've spent quite a bit of time trying to forecast out. Of the vulnerable sectors of the auto supply chain right now when we talk about transitioning, it's going to be in the powertrain segment of the industry. Engines and transmissions are going to change significantly.

Environment committee  Thanks very much. Those are really intriguing ideas. The great part of this study that's being undertaken is that we get to float some of these really creative thoughts forward. A means-tested approach to vehicle incentives is very intriguing. This is not something on which Unifor has established a particular position, but it makes good sense.

Environment committee  If I were to characterize it, I would say right now we're at a fork in the road, to build on a really bad metaphor for vehicles in this case, and that's certainly what it feels like. I will tell you that two months ago there was a view that this was going to be the death knell of the Canadian auto industry potentially, where if we were not going to land what was calculated to be somewhere in the ballpark of $300 billion of investments from OEMs and supplier firms siting these projects around the world, mostly in China and Europe, with Canada being left behind....

Environment committee  I would say that we can encapsulate our approach to industry building in the auto sector, probably since the late 1990s, when the former 1965 Auto Pact was dismantled. That was an interesting trade agreement we had. It was the only trade agreement of its kind that actually mandated investments coming into Canada.

Environment committee  Absolutely. I really couldn't agree more. The strategic position we're in, just to build on the comments I started with, is quite remarkable. As other panellists have talked about, we're rich in emissions-free energy, and at the same time we're rich in the resources that are in high demand for these products.

Environment committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Chair and members of the committee. It's a pleasure to have been invited to speak with you today and to be presenting alongside my distinguished panellists. I am Angelo DiCaro, the national director of research for Unifor. We are Canada's largest labour union in the private sector.

International Trade committee  The consequences are not clear about what the disparity between the steel and aluminum provisions are in NAFTA. One thing that is important to put in perspective—although I'm not going to diminish it—is that the aluminum industry, for instance, is a very big industry in Canada, especially in B.C. and Quebec.

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  Oh, I'm sorry. We'll talk after.

International Trade committee  I'd say that the fact that this deal is going to get done is probably as much certainty as people have had in the last three years of this roller coaster. In a way, then, it becomes a good thing. Many big investment decisions have been on pause, with people waiting to find out what these final rules are going to look like.