Transport committee  I think the first answer is, yes, we do believe that the provisions of Bill C-49 will make a more balanced and competitive rail freight environment, but we have to remember the word “balanced” is important. We're not just saying that as a means to keep the peace. Our competitive

Transport committee  Thank you again, Madam Chair. It is an honour to be among the witnesses to appear before this committee as it conducts this very important business on the review of Bill C-49, the transportation modernization act. In our brief time with you today, we want to share three key mess

Transport committee  Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm Bob Masterson, president and CEO of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada. I'm joined today by Ms. Kara Edwards who is our transportation specialist and an expert in all matters related to Bill C-49. Thank you.

International Trade committee  Sure. First of all, I talked about the large number of investments that went into the U.S., and the question from Ms. Ramsey about what this means. Are people going to want to invest more in the United States perhaps? I think we're seeing two things. American companies are worr

International Trade committee  The Canadian industry, yes.

International Trade committee  It is entirely essential. Again, 75% of everything we produce in Canada is exported down to the United States, $30 billion-plus, and then we bring $33 billion up. Dave talked about this back and forth. It's much like the auto sector. Raw materials come up. We semi-process them a

International Trade committee  Minister Morneau has convened an economic advisory council to try to get to the question of why Canada is lagging in global foreign direct investment and why we are at below 2% in economic growth. It's a very complicated story. I think the simple message is that we simply don't t

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  We do not have the competitive landscape for investment. We don't have the conditions to attract global investment. There are many things that aren't working in our favour.

International Trade committee  Today, in the U.S. Senate there was a bill introduced that would provide significant federal support to create the infrastructure in Pennsylvania to store the natural gas liquids that are abundantly available to facilitate the processing of that industry, so you have a partnershi

International Trade committee  There are some examples of things we've already done. The regulatory co-operation council, for one, has been very good. That's a great example. It doesn't mean that Canada has to follow the U.S. lead. With the chemicals work that's been done under RCC, as that work sped up, the

International Trade committee  I think the message we have is that we reserve the right, just like in health care, to pursue whatever policy choices we want.

International Trade committee  We want to address carbon. We will address carbon, but make no mistake, it will impact competitiveness. If that's the case, what are we doing to maintain the competitive position while we're focused on a carbon policy? The notion that departments of environment nationally and pr

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  Our industry is highly interconnected. It's a global industry—similar companies in all jurisdictions—so it was relatively easy. We're in regular contact, I would say daily contact, with our counterparts in those jurisdictions. We facilitated the availability of Canada's trade co