International Trade committee  Here's the problem. We supported SIF. We worked really closely with Minister Bains and his office. It's a great program, except it takes forever to get money out of it. When you're talking about short-term emergency situations like we are in today, we need immediate relief, not something that might happen in 18 months or two years, and I use the word “might”.

International Trade committee  Correct. That's why something like an ACCA change, which is already on the books, would help a lot. That directly gives cash back to companies that are investing today, which puts cash in their pockets, something that all parties have supported in the past and something that's already on the books and that the U.S. has done.

International Trade committee  Generally, the talks have stalled by the sounds of it, and that's a huge problem. I see that Jerry is nodding. This is bottom line. This goes away if NAFTA is done. They've made that very clear in the U.S. I know that in Canada we keep saying they're not tied. They're tied in the eyes of the U.S., and that's all that matters.

International Trade committee  Three.

International Trade committee  No. We've seen, as was mentioned, $100 million from the Quebec government, which was just for steel and aluminum. I don't know what the dollar amount would actually be. It would be very large though, if you look Canada-wide and at the direct impacts that are going to come out of this.

International Trade committee  Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Chair and honourable members. Thank you for inviting me to speak on behalf of Canada's 90,000 manufacturers and exporters and our association's 2,500 direct members to talk about U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. I want to thank all members of the committee for organizing and hosting these critical sessions under challenging times.

International Trade committee  Yes. Here is something that I think Canada could do unilaterally that has nothing to do with free trade agreements or anything else. It's something we've advocated for awhile. We tend to get caught up in tying temporary foreign workers to people who are coming into the country and adding value.

International Trade committee  On capacity building you mentioned energy development, and I didn't touch on that. I'd say there's a capacity constraint across the board, whether in manufacturing or energy or other sectors of the economy, whereby the investment just isn't coming in to expand production. You're not talking about $100 here and there; you're talking about multiple billions of dollars in investment that isn't coming, whether it is direct investment in the natural resource extraction side of things or in the upscale or downstream value-added aspects of it.

International Trade committee  I think Dan's story about wine is similar to stories in other sectors of the economy. We are the boy scouts on trade, and for a long time in Canada we have accepted that we can be less competitive in Canada and produce things at a higher cost and that this is okay, because other people will supply those goods to us.

International Trade committee  Implement accelerated capital cost allowance measures such as the U.S. just implemented. That would provide the biggest short-term bang for the buck and cost nothing, because it's an accounting measure. It's about cash flow back to the companies.

International Trade committee  Thank you. I'll go in reverse order, maybe. I'd say that BDC, EDC, and the trade commissioner service work quite closely with groups like ours—chambers of commerce and others across the country—but they're limited in their own capacity to do so as well. They have only so many people.

International Trade committee  That's a whole other question. EDC does a lot of advertising, I guess. We have surveyed our members about awareness and the use of EDC. The understanding not just of EDC but of the trade commissioner services.... These are all really good services; very few people know they exist.

International Trade committee  It would depend on the type of product they're selling and what they're doing. This is a generalization, but many first-time exporters will go as part of a bigger project. For example, SNC-Lavalin, doing a construction project in Brazil—building a new road, or something like that—would take a certain percentage of Canadian suppliers with them on that project as part of the conditions, typically, of their EDC contract, if they're using them.

International Trade committee  Certainly EDC tries to make them aware. We'll try to do it through our own—

International Trade committee  It's in part a capacity issue, considering the size and scale of these companies, which are so small they just don't know where to go for help. I think too often the government tries to be the only solution provider, and often they don't look to the government for help; they look to a local chamber of commerce or a group like CME.