Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. From speaking with a few of your colleagues earlier, I understand and obviously I can see tonight that you're working late hours, so all I can say is that if your constituents all were aware of how many hours you put in on their behalf and on behalf of th

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Yes, thank you very much for your question. I certainly echo what my colleague is saying. I have been in this business for almost forty years as well, and the single biggest issue for our dealers right now is the ability to access capital to floor plan their product. Those are t

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Thank you for the question and the opportunity to respond. I believe the statistics you're quoting were taken from our own submission with regard to that matter. Yes, we are familiar with that program. We are also familiar with the statistics that you've quoted. In that vein,

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  I'm sure that as a former automotive worker you're certainly used to these hours.

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Absolutely. And I have to say, without any hesitation or sense of exaggeration, that we are hearing stories like the one you quoted, sir, every single day. Long-standing bank customers who have been with one particular bank for 20 or 25 years all of a sudden are finding themselve

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Thank you for your question. I'm happy to be able to answer it. First of all, the best way to help our dealers would be to approve the $12 billion package as quickly as possible. We believe that these funds will help the financing arms of the auto companies to have more cash at

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  That's a good question. First, let me clarify one thing, Mr. Chair. The $12 billion is neither a loan, nor money from taxpayers. Basically, we recommended that the Business Development Bank of Canada buy back the financing contracts and leases of these financial companies. Norma

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  First, let me say that your analysis of the situation is right on. You have all of the dynamics exactly where they belong. That is in fact the crisis we're facing at this point. While there is a lot of press with regard to the strength and viability of our banking system in Can

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  It's a very good question. Clearly you are very focused on the whole issue of making sure consumers have access to competitive loans and that they don't get gouged. We are certainly huge proponents of that and we subscribe to it. I would start by saying that no one can guarantee

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  We have looked at this. I suppose you are referring to what we call here in Canada CCAA filing—chapter 11 in the United States. We're hearing a lot of discussion with regard to chapter 11. We have had some experience here in this country, although thankfully minimal, with the Dae

Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry in Canada committee  Thank you very much for your time. I appreciate you're keeping long hours.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Richard Gauthier. I am the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, commonly known as CADA. CADA is the national association for franchise automobile dealerships that sell new cars and trucks. Our

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Laforest. That is a very good question. The primary objective of the Canadian Secured Credit Facility of $12 billion is to make more cash available to the financial companies dealing daily with automobile dealers in Canada. At present, these companies cannot acce

Finance committee  Thank you for that.

Finance committee  No, we're not here to speak on behalf of the manufacturers. What we are saying is that the current scrappage program, which was initiated on January 1 of this year, offers an incentive of $300. There are more than five million vehicles that are pre-1998 on the roads right now. Th