International Trade committee  I can start off on that, because it's a great question, and if I put on my hat.... I'm the past chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and one of the areas we've looked at quite intently is intellectual property. As you say, right now the world's economy is based on intangi

International Trade committee  We have some natural ones, and we're augmenting those, too—whether we call them clusters or what have you. They are important. But we should understand what we have and make sure we compete at a global level of competitiveness and not just prop up things that are also-rans.

International Trade committee  To help keep jobs in Canada, in the auto sector, we have to recognize that the auto sector hasn't stood still in terms of technology either. Every year we get about 5% more productive, just in the automation of our systems, and we are intensely competitive with my colleague next

International Trade committee  Currently under NAFTA, the required regional rule of origin is the highest of any agreement that the United States has signed. We would not want to add additional red tape and requirements at a national level or the like. We would like to continue to build on the effectiveness of

International Trade committee  Good.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and the members of the committee, for this chance to add a few words to those of my friends, Caroline and Mathew, and my colleagues as well, on behalf of General Motors Canada. As a quick reminder, GM Canada has world-class assembly plants in St. Catharines

Finance committee  Part of it is, as we've said before, to set the table properly so that we are the most inviting jurisdiction in the world for this new technology development. Israel, as you mentioned, is a really great example. I mentioned in my remarks that you need to have talent, you need t

Finance committee  Yes. I think that there is merit in that. We're seeing this already across the United States where different states are setting different rules in terms of how one can go about testing autonomous vehicle technology. What happens in California is very different from a new set of r

Finance committee  As indicated before, we're at a time of profound global change in our industry, and I believe we're going to see, over the coming five to 10 years, significant movement towards electric cars, cars that are very connected with each other. That's really important because we have 32

Finance committee  I come from the school of working for Jim Balsillie for four years, so it won't surprise you that I've also had an inside look at some of the concerns. I would say that the intellectual property provisions within the TPP are good for multinational companies that are already stron

Finance committee  I think there's a set of policies that are difficult, but are needed for us to continue to compete in the traditional manufacturing area. I'm sure you're hearing that from other groups, and I would support their recommendations in that area as well. The list of headwinds is well

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm David Paterson. I'm vice-president of corporate and environmental affairs for General Motors Canada and I'm the immediate past chair of the board of directors of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. I want to speak to you very briefly today about the impo

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  I can talk to that briefly, and I have talked to Mr. Masse about this too. We understand the situation. We are in a situation in General Motors where we've always provided this information. It's available through websites in Canada and in the United States, in French and English.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  The energy bill section 136 loans, which many of our companies have already applied for in the United States and have pending support for, are very significant incentives in terms of providing advanced technology production in the United States. Now, in Canada, as you mentioned,

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  I might add, too, that one of the great strengths of the plan is that it's not just the plants that are there. We have brand new mandates that have been identified for those plants. We happen to be fortunate that we're at a stage where we can identify brand new vehicle mandates t