Over the last year, our organization has been actively advocating for the Steel Industry. For more context see here, here and here.

In these uncertain times, It is evident to us that these issues will continue to have a significant impact on your bottom line and long-term plans. We wanted to provide the community with three recent updates:

1) Our advocacy in partnership, with the Windsor and Sault Ste Marie Chambers, began with a focus on the competitiveness challenges faced by Canadian Manufacturing, especially on foreign dumping and inequitable procurement. Due to our consistent pressure and collaboration with the CSPA, the Committee on International Trade launched a study on the Competitiveness of the Steel Industry. 

We appeared as a witness to the committee in March and submitted a memo. Last week they released a final report with eight recommendations, actively citing our proposals. To see the full report click HERE. Yesterday, NDP MP Ramsay brought up the report at Question Period, prompting a commitment from PM Trudeau on NAFTA Clause 232. 

2) NAFTA & Canada-US Trade: On May 31st we were invited to the Parliamentary Steel Caucus as a witness. The presentation was well received by the Caucus and we’d like to recognize our local MPs (Bratina, Duvall, Sweet and Tassi) for their attendance and support. The Steel Caucus is headed to Washington DC this summer to meet with their counterparts, and we will continue our engagement with them. See HERE and HERE for documents from the presentation.

3) Canadian Chamber of Commerce and NAFTA negotiations: With President Trump’s 90-day official notice, the Candian government can be called to enter formal negotiations after August 16th, 2017. The Feds have conducted over 200 meetings with the US Government and business representative. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is playing an active role within these negotiations. Canada’s chief negotiator has committed to utilizing local Chambers to solicit business feedback and recommendations during the negotiation process. They are also organizing business delegations to the key American States this summer for businesses.

Questions:

1) While our survey was a start, we’re exploring the idea of hosting a few local roundtables this Fall in partnership with local MPs for Steel and related industries. Please contact us if this is of interest to any manufacturers.

2a) If you are a member of the Chamber, please let me know if you’d like us to visit / call with details on these issues and/or to get your feedback on our strategy moving forward.

2b) For the businesses that aren’t a member of our Chamber, we’d welcome your invitation to discuss how we can best support your organization and build a more larger coalition on this issue.

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Appendix A: Timeline of activities (As of May 31st, 2017)

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