Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Yes. Sorry.

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  There are structural changes happening, absolutely, and one of them, of course, is the emergence of the Chinese and Indian markets. From a chemical point of view, growth of chemicals is roughly 3% a year globally. There is a growth pattern notwithstanding the recession, but the g

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Yes.

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Yes, I would say it's kind of in our sector, but it's a transition. It's between the resource and the chemical production. In fact, we are working with Alberta on this. We are extremely interested in upgraders being developed in Alberta, mostly in Alberta because that's where the

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  That is a good question, sir. We have asked ourselves the same question. In the midst of what one would have to say was a serious problem, governments were asleep at the switch. What we would get here from governments would be, well yes, the manufacturing sector is losing jobs,

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  That would be a huge yes. Otherwise, we're just sending it in pipelines down to Houston and letting the Houston guys upgrade it and create the value for their economy. Now, that doesn't mean that all bitumen could be upgraded in Canada. We don't have the railway structure. And

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  I think without government involvement, it won't happen. I'll give you an example. The National Energy Board, in approving pipelines, doesn't think about value-added. If the National Energy Board is going to permit pipelines to be built without thinking about that issue, it's go

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Well, we did support the measures. We felt that liquidity was--and still is--a huge problem for our companies, so the first big priority was liquidity. We also believed that we needed some demand stimulus, so we did support those aspects of the budget. The area where we were dis

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  I can make a general comment and maybe Fiona can add to it. As a trading nation, I think we're the most dependent on trade of any OECD country, so obviously protectionism doesn't help us. Our association supported free trade, in 1982, I think it was, so we were way ahead of the

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  There are several areas. We really don't have any energy policies in this country. We are woefully inadequate in regard to energy policy, so you have a lot of energy policy driven by environmental policy, which is not a bad thing except that it has consequences. Just as an ex

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  I'm going to give you an answer that may not be as simple as you would like. Generally, the business sectors, including the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, have argued that we need some way to price carbon. That doesn't necessarily mean the carbon tax. Emissions trading,

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  I totally and absolutely agree. Well, just think about that. Look at the numbers. The Chinese are going up like this; all our growth's going over there. So essentially if you don't do that.... Because our business is price per pound, and a cent per pound changes where the busines

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Our industry has never advocated loan guarantees. The chemical industry has never asked for a loan guarantee, and it probably never will. However, one has to recognize that the situation faced by some sectors, like the auto sector, is, although partly their own doing, also partl

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  I'm not sure I can do that for you. I think all sectors are affected. Obviously, some are more visible than others, like auto and forestry. But forestry, like us, has had continuing issues, particularly related to the softwood lumber issue with the U.S. It's hard to distinguish b

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Well, it definitely is an issue. We're faced with the same demographic issues that Jay is faced with. Fortunately, Alberta is a good place to work. Our plants are in places such as Prentiss and Joffrey, where our labour force is extremely stable. They're attractive communities to