International Trade committee  Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to appear as you kick off your study of the steel industry. I have some short prepared remarks that I'll go through that reflect the input of everybody at the table, the three departments. On behalf of my colleagues from the Depart

International Trade committee  Let me add to that. It is, as you pointed out, a really significant competitive advantage. Just look at some of the statistics here. According to the Canadian Steel Producers Association, Canadian mills produce an average of 42 kilograms of CO2 per tonne, compared to 152 kilogram

International Trade committee  The issue you've put your finger on is the fundamental one, which is the degree of dumping that's happening on the market. I take your point around the free market. My argument would be—and I think the trade officials can speak to this as well—that what we're seeing from the ty

International Trade committee  Fifty per cent of Canada's sovereign steel production is exported, and 84% of that is to the United States.

International Trade committee  I'll just add to that. In the case of—

International Trade committee  In the case of procurement, most of the procurement decisions are on infrastructure. The decisions around procurement are made often at the provincial level, so that's where those kinds of decisions would need to get made.

International Trade committee  In terms of the two bankruptcy situations, we've been following them very carefully. I think the positive signs in each instance are that there is an investor who is looking at structuring a deal to restructure the business and have a viable business at the other end of the CCAA

International Trade committee  Just to add to that, as part of my responsibilities in the department, I work on foreign investment as well. We have fairly regular meetings with all the big players in the oil patch and in heavy oil and gas in Alberta in particular, and also in the Atlantic. We had an opportunit

International Trade committee  I'll turn to Patrick on that one, or perhaps somebody from the industry would be better to speak to that. I know when we met with Stelco last week, the union talked quite at length about the relationship they have with Mohawk College. They talked about the employee shortages aro

International Trade committee  I would say as well, if you compare the steel industry with many other industries where you've seen disruptions caused by technologies that are displacing workers, there certainly is a degree of robotics and automation that has been brought into the steel process, but it is labou

International Trade committee  I think the steel industry association, who I'm sure will be appearing before you, will be able to give you some numbers, because they've done indirect numbers. I think their estimate, for example, of the annual is roughly about $18 billion to $19 billion a year when they conside

International Trade committee  I'll let Trade deal with this one in more detail. I've asked the same question, because it does seem, on the face of it, that it would be quite attractive as a policy measure to think about doing something like Buy America, particularly given the fact that during the recession pe

International Trade committee  They effectively have a safe harbour provision within the international trade law.

International Trade committee  When I hear you talk about this, what comes into my mind is the automobile sector, where, obviously, we have very integrated supply chains between ourselves and the United States. All those players have the option of buying Canadian steel or American steel, and the reality is tha

International Trade committee  Yes, absolutely.