International Trade committee  I'll just add one thought, which is that in the United States they have done fairly detailed economic analysis of the employment and economic impact of this agreement. As far as I can tell, in Canada, we have not done any of those analyses, and that is disappointing to us. I appr

International Trade committee  Yes, I'm sure that the negotiations and discussions will continue. However, I would say that we are trade unionists and that, when we negotiate collective agreements, an agreement is an agreement. Once it's signed, it signed, so I don't think many changes will be made to the agre

International Trade committee  Unless I'm mistaken, the three signatories to the agreement have to adhere to the 1998 declaration, which is less stringent than the International Labour Organization conventions. It is our position that the agreement should have included the conventions, in terms of both content

International Trade committee  I'm more comfortable discussing technical details in English.

International Trade committee  Okay. For example, convention 87, the convention on freedom of association, incorporates a number of specific tests as to how countries need to respect workers' rights to join a trade union. In Mexico, that's the central issue. As Hassan was mentioning, and as others have mentio

International Trade committee  NAFTA clearly did a lot for the steel industry, just as this new agreement will. Our problem is that NAFTA did little to help steelworkers. What matters to us is whether the new agreement is really going to help our workers be competitive. Even though they are competitive, will t

International Trade committee  The problem is not the quality of Canadian steel. The problem is that China produces 30 times more aluminum today than it did 20 years ago. That means the aluminum market has tremendous overcapacity, and China will want to find a market for that aluminum. It will sell it much low

International Trade committee  Just very quickly on the issue of procurement and buy American, you're correct that when President Obama introduced his buy American plans, Canada was granted an exemption. The U.S. procurement market is over 10 times the size of the Canadian procurement market. It is essential f

International Trade committee  I'd like to clarify something, if I may. We represent the vast majority of unionized aluminum workers, so not just steelworkers.

International Trade committee  All aluminum plants are run by multinationals. They make the investment decisions, so they invest in countries with guaranteed market access. The problem, as we see it, is that the agreement before us today doesn't do enough to guarantee them a market, especially in Mexico and in

International Trade committee  I'm not sure this agreement is going to have much effect on U.S. energy projects, but as Ken said, our position is clear that those projects should be built using North American steel. To your point, I think a healthy energy sector has enormous downstream effects for the broader

International Trade committee  The last one?

International Trade committee  Do you mean investments made by companies or supported by the government?

International Trade committee  It's been a long time.

International Trade committee  The last time a steel plant was built in Canada was 1978. Some investments have been made since, but you'd have to understand how big and small investments are defined. Small investments are ongoing. In the aluminum sector, a plant was built more recently. The Alma plant was buil