International Trade committee  Fedchun, as in Norman Bethune.

International Trade committee  Very good. Thank you very much. First of all, the automotive parts manufacturers are the suppliers of parts, goods, and services for new vehicles. We are not in the aftermarket. It's very important to understand that. I myself have been in the industry since 1964. For some of u

International Trade committee  Yes, informally I canvassed all the other associations I'm familiar with, the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, the foundry association, all the other people I'm familiar with. I couldn't find a single person who was in favour of this free trade agreement. So I think if you

International Trade committee  Jim will do that, Mr. Chair.

International Trade committee  Let me start from the parts side. First of all, as our wage rates are substantially higher than Korea's, it's very difficult to export to Korea. For parts, it's difficult to do that, so we'll only get them exported if they go in finished vehicles. To have a competitively priced p

International Trade committee  From the parts side we have not done a study, but we simply do know there will be lost jobs, because for every auto that we don't build but import instead.... I mean on the ratio of jobs at the assembly plants; there are three jobs in an auto parts plant for every job in an assem

International Trade committee  We have relations with our equivalent organization in the United States. Certainly the reading we get from them is that the probability of ratification of the U.S.-Korean free trade agreement is almost nil. All of the parties and leading candidates in both parties in the United S

International Trade committee  I just want to add that, back when this thing started, when we had our first meetings with DFAIT, we volunteered to work with them and to do an analysis of the automotive industry. We said, you can do what you want and we'll give you information. That offer was never taken up. Th

International Trade committee  I just want to say he's absolutely right. We've put things forward and we've been ignored.

International Trade committee  Nothing that I know of--that's honest. There are not many things they want from Canada. I guess you'd have to ask them what they have, but natural resource access appears to be what they're really after. Do you have any other ideas, Mark?

International Trade committee  No, I think he was just telling the Canadian public the truth. If I were the CEO, I'd say, gee, if I'm going to lose my shirt here, maybe it's not a good place to be. A little bit of reality is good for all of us to understand. But the U.S. is in an entirely different position.

International Trade committee  We're ready, willing, and able, and we have been for a number of years, and we have not been consulted. We said we would. So we're still ready, willing, and able right now, and we could get together and do it, I think, pretty quickly. But people have to ask us.

International Trade committee  I think it's pretty straightforward. I said this three years ago. If you can prove to us that they are not using non-tariff barriers, then we can sign an agreement. But they have to prove--I'm from Missouri. They have to prove to us first, because they've been doing it for years.

International Trade committee  We don't have anyone right off the top of our heads, but I'm sure if we all got together we could come up with one. There is the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council, of which we are all members. The whole industry is a member, and the whole industry right now is not in favour

International Trade committee  I haven't noticed any difference in the two governments, and this is one of the few times I'd disagree with you, Jim. We've had difficulty, everyone seemed to want to move forward, and only the auto industry has really been screaming that this is not a good deal until non-tariff