Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  Thank you to the committee.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  There are checks and balances in the new pipelines that are being built. I'll spend a quick moment on the proposed pipeline that's being built. The proposed pipeline is going to be built 100 feet below the lake-bed. It's going to be built within a concrete tunnel. Then the pipel

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  I don't think there is any real great risk here. There's always a risk, but not a great risk. One in 2,000 is a pretty good number, and I think with the new pipeline it will be far greater than one in 2,000. I don't see this as being any great risk.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  Now, I'm not sure if the numbers are going to warrant moving forward and stopping it. I haven't analyzed that. I can tell you that the Senate committee I spoke to seemed to be overwhelmingly in support of our position. There were a lot of farmers who are senators on the Michigan

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  We in the labour movement pride ourselves on the fact that we don't rely heavily on the government to help our members. From time to time we do, but by and large we have our benefit plans and our pension plans that are completely funded by the industry and by our members. When y

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  You know, the petroleum that's used on electric vehicles makes up 50% of those vehicles. The effect would be devastating on the automotive industry as well. I think Line 5 would have a fairly dramatic effect on Governor Whitmer's economy in Detroit, where a lot of these vehicles

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  Yes. There's no question about it. The 15,000 I mentioned in my presentation are just our members, LiUNA members, but I have 15,000 members whom I represent there as well. That does not include all the rest of the building trades unions within Michigan that are up in arms—the UA

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  I'm not sure that she should be proceeding at all. I mean, that's my opinion. First of all, I think she is in violation of a treaty between both of our countries, and I think there should be very strong and vigorous intervention by our Canadian government to ensure that the Unite

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  I'm not sure I can answer that. I don't understand it. I think it defies logic, because even from a political point of view I think the effect she would have on the number of jobs in Michigan...would definitely outnumber the environmentalists who are in Michigan as well. I don't

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  Yes.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  I think both ideology and ignorance are driving this agenda. I think folks don't know the issues well enough and don't know the impact. There's the ideology of, “You know what? I don't care what the impact of shutting down a line will do. I just think petroleum is a bad thing, so

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  I am not aware of any third party investigation or stats that can stand up against what Governor Whitmer has done or what we're saying, either way. Look, I think that history speaks for itself and the demand for the products speaks for itself. I don't know how you can shut down

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  No, that's fine.

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  I'm not so sure I can answer that, Mr. McKay, because there really is no reasonable explanation. I haven't been able to find one. At the legislature the other day, the Michigan Senate energy committee, some of the environmental folks who asked questions about it obviously don't

Economic Relationship between Canada and the United States committee  I think the problem with both projects is that there are a number of folks out there who don't understand the demand for petroleum and natural gas and what they're used for. They make an assumption that you can shut down these pipelines, and future pipelines, because there is no