Natural Resources committee  In essence, we have harmonized or aligned GHG regulations, which is an easier situation to deal with, in that we have a continent-wide approach to this. What we're saying, though, is that given that the Canadian fleet has historically been a little different from that in the U.S. in terms of the cars that people like to buy....

Natural Resources committee  In terms of the vehicle, Toyota is planning to manufacture, and they might have started it already, the RAV4 electric vehicle in Woodstock, Ontario. The problem you have with the deployment of pure electrics in particular—I'm not talking about the hybrid or the dual-fuel solutions, such as the Chevy Volt or some others—is that it's hard to break range anxiety when you don't have in place the infrastructure charging stations, etc., be they the Better Place model or the Israeli model that you spoke of.

Natural Resources committee  How much time do we have?

Natural Resources committee  Very quickly, in Canada we have, in effect, a greenhouse gas emissions regulation as opposed to a fuel efficiency regulation, but one is a derivative of the other. Those regulations are much to the industry's support. I think I'm speaking for all auto companies in this country when I say that, generally speaking, we think a U.S.

Natural Resources committee  I would say that the targets the vehicles are required to meet or the fleet is required to meet, on an average, are class segment specific. Light trucks have one set of targets, essentially, and passenger cars and smaller SUVs have their own set of targets. Ironically, our regulations, I must say, do put a disproportionate share of the burden on the cars that are already the most fuel efficient.

Natural Resources committee  —for various reasons, some of which my members might not support, and others that might make practical sense.

Natural Resources committee  There's very much a chicken-and-egg argument here. The fuels aren't available. The engine technology and the powertrain technology won't be there to support the use and the consumption of those fuels. Conversely, the same applies. I will say that it's our position among our membership....

Natural Resources committee  We certify vehicles to federal standards. Although there are provincial highway traffic acts of course that can bear on certain motor vehicle characteristics, by and large it's a federal emission standard and a federal safety standard. We can't lose sight of the safety side of the equation either.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, and—

Natural Resources committee  It's not all doom and gloom out there as far as new technology in the auto sector is concerned. We're in the midst of the biggest technology spend by all companies globally, and particularly in North America, to meet these new U.S.-aligned GHG regulations, which are a derivative of course of new fuel efficiency regulations.

Natural Resources committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Thank you for inviting us, Parliamentary Secretary Anderson, opposition critic Mr. Julian, and honourable members of Parliament. My name is Andrew Morin. I'm the vice-president of technical and regulatory affairs for the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers of Canada.