International Trade committee  Absolutely.

International Trade committee  I would just make the point that Hino is also manufacturing here in Canada with a plant at Woodstock, making medium-duty trucks specifically for the Canadian market.

International Trade committee  It's all of the Japanese-brand companies that are selling in Canada. We represent the subsidiaries here in Canada. We're not representing the global operations of the companies from Japan.

International Trade committee  Well, as JAMA Canada, we tend to operate on a consensus basis with all of our members, so yes, I would say that's probably the case.

International Trade committee  We're currently producing about a million vehicles a year in Canada. It's probably close to 3.5 million in the United States, and in Mexico I think it's probably around 500,000. I could be wrong on the specifics. I don't have the data right here.

International Trade committee  Well, I guess that's a broader discussion. It has to include the U.S. if they began discussions in the TTIP. I think it can come down to alignment in some respects, mutual recognition of those standards, and being able to be flexible enough to accommodate the high standards.

International Trade committee  The two global standards that we mentioned in particular were the U.S. standards, which are extant certainly in North America, but because of CETA and global trade with other jurisdictions—particularly in CETA with UNECE standards and the fact that Japan is moving toward UNECE standards as well—it makes sense to have as much flexibility as necessary to be able to support the operations not only here in Canada, but also in North America and around the world.

International Trade committee  No, we're not advocating separate bilaterals. We think we should maintain the trilateral nature of NAFTA, including on regulatory standards.

International Trade committee  No, that's it. We're all here to answer questions.

International Trade committee  Certainly from a JAMA-Canada perspective, we're, as we mentioned, in favour of alignment of the regulatory environment in North America. We have been supporting the Regulatory Cooperation Council and their activities in that regard. We just think that it shouldn't be exclusively one set of standards.

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to address the Standing Committee on International Trade on the proposed reopening of NAFTA. I am David Worts, executive director of JAMA Canada. Joining me today on the video conference is Hanif Nori from Honda Canada, Stephen Beatty from Toyota Canada, and Scott MacKenzie from Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada.

International Trade committee  I would say, first of all, auto parts tariffs currently in Canada are zero and have been since 1998, so that right now, parts can come in from anywhere duty-free without any kind of rule of origin. That has been the case, because the duty remission programs that were in the NAFTA were eliminated and that was the response Canada gave at that time in order to effectively support the manufacturing operations here in Canada.

International Trade committee  Honda and Toyota are not unionized and neither is Hino. There was a joint venture between General Motors and Suzuki that was called Cami, which is now a 100% General Motors factory, but they were unionized at the time.

International Trade committee  I'd like to say a couple of things.

International Trade committee  Actually, we're coming at it from a slightly different perspective. We're trying to catch up with what Canada has negotiated with Korea and with CETA. Those are our main competitors. Given the amount of investment the Japanese automakers and the auto parts makers have put into Canada, it would be perverse if European vehicles and Korean vehicles were coming into Canada duty-free and Japanese vehicles weren't.