I’m not saying that Payne and Volpe shouldn’t be on your panel, but the fact remains all your politics now seem performative. Indeed, the one common refrain I hear from industry insiders is that while your team does take time to ask for their opinions, you don’t pay much heed to their counsel. Indeed, I suspect that had you spent more time listening rather than just playing politics, Toyota and Honda might not have formed the newly-minted Pacific Manufacturing Association of Canada so they can voice their concerns to an audience that might listen.

Nor is the absence of an advisor with manufacturing nous for lack of qualified candidates. Just off the top of my head, I can think of three retired chief executives of Canadian automakers — Jean Marc Leclerc (Honda), Larry Hutchinson (Toyota), and Steve Carlisle (General Motors) — who can speak with clarity and depth to the travails of building cars in our fair country. If you wanted expertise on the entire pantheon of Canadian automobile manufacturing, then know that Brian Sweeney, CEO and president of the aforementioned PMAC (and formerly the head of the Trillium Network for Advanced Manufacturing), is a walking encyclopedia of who produces what where. And nobody knows automotive tariffs better than Driving’s own Stephen Beatty.

Claim all you want that your new committee “draws on the best advice and the broadest perspectives to advance Canada’s economic interests,” but there’s a hole in it big enough to lose the entire automobile industry. You need better advice on how to save Canadian manufacturing, and right now, there’s no one on that Advisory Committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations of yours to tell you how.

Author’s note: If you’d like to understand more on this subject and others facing the Canadian automotive industry in the midst of tumultuous world geopolitics, please join us for our latest Driving into the Future panel where we’ll discuss the urgent need for a comprehensive national auto policy. Helping us understand what such a policy might look like is Hanif Nori, Manager, Government and Environmental Affairs for Honda Canada; Scott Mackenzie, Director & General Manager, Corporate & External Affairs for Toyota Canada; Brendan Sweeney, President & CEO of the Pacific Manufacturing Association of Canada; and myself, David Booth, senior writer, Postmedia Driving.

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