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canadian industry Online - NOVEMBER 2014
industry colleagues, and will continue
to do so.
·
The Objective:
To encourage
more manufacturing investment and
jobs in Canada
Achievement Strategy:
Cre-
ate more opportunities for Canadian
manufacturers and suppliers to dis-
play why Canada is an ideal location
for investment. APMAworks closely
with its provincial and federal govern-
ments to produce supplier days with
key OEMs. This allows candidates to
apply and, if approved to participate,
to showcase their products and tech-
nologies in an exclusive demonstration
with that OEM at their facility. Canadi-
an companies then have the opportu-
nity to secure contracts with the manu-
facturers and show them that Canada’s
suppliers have what it takes to justify
manufacturing investment in Canada.
APMA also participates in trade
missions to foreign countries around
the world, displaying Canadian manu-
facturing prowess to foreign compa-
nies who may not have otherwise had
the opportunity to see it in action.
These trade missions encourage for-
eign investors to visit Canada and po-
tentially build manufacturing facilities
here.
Lastly, APMA advocates with the
government on our industry’s behalf
to encourage appropriate and fair leg-
islation for domestic companies. In
order to inspire foreign companies to
invest in our country, we must cre-
ate the ideal environment for them to
do so, and this includes having active
discussions with government to create
that environment.
APMA, under Flavio Volpe’s di-
rection and leadership, remains persis-
tently determined to create and main-
tain even more manufacturing success
in Canada. It will take resolve and
fortitude, which APMA and Mr. Volpe
happen to have plenty of.
The Time for an Auto Strategy is
Now
**
The following is an abridged version of a
speech Mr. Flavio Volpe, APMA’s presi-
dent, delivered at the 138th Windsor-Essex
Chamber of Commerce Annual General
Meeting in November 2014**
---------
"
The time is now for an Auto
strategy". Canadian manufacturers and
suppliers, particularly those based in
or near Windsor, Ontario, have heard
this message loud and clear in recent
months.
Canadian automotive-focused
towns like Windsor live this reality
every day. They see and hear good
news in other jurisdictions and won-
der "what's wrong with us?" They hear
about European, Japanese, and Korean
OEMs choosing southeastern United
States and Mexico on a frequent basis
over the last few years and wonder
how they can obtain any of this new
investment.
We look to each other for an-
swers, but they're not easy to find.
Canada has an incredibly skilled la-
bour pool, world-class supply chain
and infrastructure, a competitive tax
structure, and activist government
partners. And we make great cars, too!
We know how to make them, we know
how to ship them, and our customers
know who we are. There are few in-
dustries that can boast about the 110
years of success in manufacturing that
Canada can.
So why do we find ourselves ask-
ing "what are we doing? Where are we
going? How do we fix this?"
Canada greatly needs an automotive
strategy, but we must also be open
and realistic about what we want to
achieve.
We want new mandates from our
current OEM partners - Ford, General
Motors, Chrysler, Toyota and Honda.
And we want new OEM partners to
come to our towns - Nissan, Volkswa-
gen, Hyundai, BMW and Jaguar.
Once we establish what it is that
APMA
