Juno News - Canada's auto sector hit with MAJOR BLOW

00:00:00.000 well some dismal economic news in canada just as conservative party leader pierre polyev

00:00:11.320 heads to the united states to try and boost trade with that country canada suffered a massive 21

00:00:18.820 drop in vehicle exports last january exports of vehicles and parts fell to their lowest level

00:00:27.100 since 2021 during the pandemic.

00:00:30.040 That's Canada said the country's trade deficit

00:00:33.100 was almost three times bigger

00:00:34.680 than the one posted in December.

00:00:37.940 Canada's total exports fell by 4.7% in January,

00:00:42.280 the biggest drop since April of last year.

00:00:45.520 Now, Polyev is set to meet with leaders

00:00:47.300 in the auto and energy sectors,

00:00:49.640 and that will include stops in Detroit,

00:00:53.300 Houston, and New York City.

00:00:55.280 This week, I'll be heading

00:00:56.340 to the United States to stand up for Canada and Canadian workers. First stop, Michigan,

00:01:02.300 where I'll meet with auto leaders and state legislators to defend an integrated North

00:01:06.360 American auto industry and fight for tariff-free trade that protects Canadian jobs. Then I'm off

00:01:13.100 to Texas to advocate for Canadian energy because our resources make both our countries stronger,

00:01:19.600 safer, and richer. And finally, I'm headed to New York to deliver a keynote address on the

00:01:26.000 historic partnership between Canada and the United States to neighbors, allies, and economic

00:01:31.320 partners. As I said in a recent speech, we need to leverage the relationship we have with the

00:01:36.440 American people. We should all be reaching out to American business, unions, media, governors,

00:01:41.700 investors, mayors, civic leaders, and the administration itself as we work to fight

00:01:47.080 for tariff free trade and security cooperation.

00:01:51.120 Our guest is Jocelyn Bamford.

00:01:53.280 She is founder of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers

00:01:56.280 and Businesses of Canada, also a business lady herself.

00:02:00.120 Coming to us from the free state of Florida.

00:02:02.400 Welcome, Jocelyn.

00:02:06.160 Thank you, Mark.

00:02:07.000 It's always a pleasure to be here.

00:02:10.360 Let's talk a little bit about, well, we can start off with Pierre

00:02:12.940 Polyev's trip south now.

00:02:14.480 He's going to be spending time in Detroit.

00:02:17.080 talking to officials in the auto industry where we just saw a massive hit in terms of our exports to

00:02:23.960 the United States. I mean, we took a 21% hit in our vehicle exports in January.

00:02:32.740 That's going to hurt and is hurting. So he's going down there to talk to people in Detroit,

00:02:37.880 then he's heading to Texas to meet with people in the energy sector, and then finally in New York.

00:02:45.000 Do you think he's going to be able to move the needle at all?

00:02:49.920 Hey, I think any conversations with our largest customer and our longest friend and ally is a positive step.

00:02:58.600 You can't get to a deal, a sale, a negotiation if you stop talking.

00:03:04.800 And isn't it interesting, while Pierre Polyev is heading down to the United States to talk to our largest customer,

00:03:12.540 our prime minister is heading for his 16th trip internationally to speak with people in Europe.

00:03:20.780 And for all the folks, you know, a large majority of the boomer folks and a large majority of those

00:03:27.480 who are former public servants or teachers that basically made their money on the taxpayer's dime,

00:03:34.700 they need to understand that you can't just replace one customer with another and be whole,

00:03:39.420 especially a customer that's across an ocean. So while you could get a new customer, it might not

00:03:46.300 be as profitable, which is key when there's tight margins on just about everything in the

00:03:52.180 manufacturing space right now. So you can't just take in one for the other and think that we'll be

00:04:01.080 in the same position for prosperity that we've been in the past. It's a fairy tale.

00:04:06.400 yeah i mean both our imports and exports fell our trade deficit was almost three times bigger

00:04:15.060 than it was in december so we're going in the wrong direction here

00:04:18.500 by some measurements were already in recession the economy is just headed over a cliff i mean

00:04:27.780 all the news here is bad and to your point the prime ministers in europe talking to people in

00:04:33.800 Norway. I think while he's in Norway, he should learn a little something about how to properly

00:04:37.920 manage an oil industry and an oil sector because Norway's done a terrific job. They have continued

00:04:45.060 to provide oil. They have steady customers. They brought in billions in revenues into that country

00:04:52.680 and they've put a lot of it away. They've got a sovereign fund or something like that, money that

00:04:59.320 they have basically put away for the future of the country. Meantime, we're running up more

00:05:05.000 debt. So while they're, you know, going, adding more money to the revenue and the wealth of the

00:05:13.420 country, we're just taking on more debt. We're just sinking into red ink. We're just going in

00:05:18.260 opposite directions. I doubt that Carney will bring that up while he's in Norway, but it would

00:05:22.920 be nice if he did. But now we're also seeing reports and, you know, forgive us for being a

00:05:28.000 little cynical here that the liberals are reaching out to oil producers in Canada and saying, well,

00:05:34.740 you know, we need more product out of you. Get it to market because, you know, all the problems in

00:05:40.880 Iran and along the Strait of Hormuz are making it difficult for supplies globally. I mean,

00:05:47.200 what do you make of that? So what I make of that is you watch what people do, not what they say.

00:05:56.220 So they say they're going to help us get our resources to market,

00:06:01.700 but what are they doing to get approvals for pipeline?

00:06:06.020 You know, how do you get it to market?

00:06:07.780 You get it by having a pipeline, revise Energy East.

00:06:12.100 They could they could do that tomorrow if they had the will to do it.

00:06:17.540 So I think Mark Carney is great.

00:06:20.300 we saw what happened with the situation in Iran, that one day he was for it and the next day he

00:06:28.540 was against it. He is whatever you want him to be, depending on the audience. So I would like to see

00:06:34.860 some action instead of words. And just to circle back on the economy, I'll tell you, Mark, we have

00:06:43.180 one of our members in the coalition and they make skids. Skids are the wood pallets that you put

00:06:48.860 product manufacturing product his business is down 80 percent eight zero percent and that's the

00:06:57.620 canary in the cool line mine because if you're not buying uh pallets and skids you're not shipping

00:07:03.160 manufacturing products so we should all be very concerned um remember manufacturing is what drives

00:07:10.160 high high paying middle class jobs it drives innovation engineering all of those great things

00:07:17.520 that we want. And still, we have no manufacturing strategy from any level of the government.

00:07:24.460 So while they talk about, oh, we're attracting foreign investment, it's like a funnel. You can

00:07:32.340 put stuff in, but if it's falling out the bottom, you are no better ahead. And I'm telling you,

00:07:37.540 it's falling out of the bottom. In your industry, you have clients in the military,

00:07:44.400 I believe your plant grew to Virginia, and you've got U.S. Navy clients, I believe.

00:07:55.340 I hope I'm not letting any secrets out or anything like that.

00:07:59.940 But now we have a war in the Middle East.

00:08:04.220 I mean, is business booming for you because of that military activity?

00:08:10.040 We anticipate that it's going to get busier, but also there's going to be shorter windows

00:08:17.400 for availability. So when you were servicing ships on a longer window, now you're going to

00:08:23.880 have a tight window because they're going to get the ships in and right back out again. So I think

00:08:30.120 it's going to be pretty much steady state, but a faster turnaround on our end to get

00:08:36.360 uh the services that we provide um back to the ships as quickly as we can so in many respects

00:08:42.920 i mean you're a canadian success story operating in the united states even though your plant your

00:08:48.360 main plant i believe is still in scarborough correct yes and absolutely we service um the

00:08:55.000 canadian um customers from canada and our u.s customers from the united states it used to be

00:09:01.080 that we serviced everyone from Canada. But with all the uncertainty, with tax implication,

00:09:09.640 with unaffordable energy, and with the absolute red tape for growing in Canada,

00:09:18.440 most businesses have made the decision that their growth will be in the United States.

00:09:22.520 and we're still committed to our Canadian employees and we will continue to work and

00:09:30.840 innovate so that we can have Canadian employees. But there's a real growth push in manufacturing

00:09:37.400 in the United States. It's one of the platforms that they talk about all the time, manufacturing.

00:09:41.960 I just don't see the same emphasis from Canada. And imagine if we could ignite manufacturing

00:09:52.520 and the resource sector how prosperous of a country we would be. And remember during COVID,

00:09:57.960 they said, we're never going to get in a situation where we have to rely on other countries for our

00:10:05.480 essential products. And we have done almost nothing to move that yardstick. Except for

00:10:14.200 the Canadian Shipbuilding Program, there is an emphasis to bring that manufacturing back,

00:10:19.960 but we need that to be on all sectors because there could be great prosperity in the country

00:10:26.600 and we're just not letting that happen. Well, yeah, I mean, the government has committed to

00:10:32.680 going spending 2% of GDP on military to meet finally our commitments, our NATO commitments.

00:10:39.880 To what degree will that represent a major opportunity for companies like yours?

00:10:44.200 well for us we are in the military we provide a corrosion coating that takes apart that last two

00:10:52.360 years and get um when we code it with our patented process gets uh 10 to 15 years um we uh could be

00:11:00.840 doing that on many more parts than we're currently doing and on on both the canadian and the u.s side

00:11:06.840 And we are just trying to get the word out so that we can grow our company on both sides

00:11:14.760 of the border.

00:11:15.760 But military is just a small piece of what we do.

00:11:19.500 We also do the commercial side and pipeline industry.

00:11:25.340 And again, Mark, I know we've talked about this before, but in the heyday of pipelines

00:11:29.720 in Canada, there was almost as many people working in manufacturing in Ontario on the

00:11:37.020 pipeline industry in oil and gas than there was in automotive. Automotive gets the conversation

00:11:42.400 all the time, but if we could get pipelines going, there's great fabricators, there's

00:11:47.880 great coders, a lot of innovation and technology in Ontario, and we could really ramp up that.

00:11:54.720 But it has to be more than talk. It has to be more than, hey, oil and gas industry, you need to get your product to market. There has to be a willingness to curtail regulations to get things done. There needs to be a willingness to pipelines. And isn't it interesting? It's almost like the prime minister is deflecting when he's going out to say, oh, it's not us.

00:12:18.960 It's those pipeline companies. They're not stepping up without demonstrating that the policies of the problem and the policies of the reason that people are not investing in the resource sector and in other sectors in Canada.

00:12:33.040 Do you have any thoughts about Canada's vacillating position on the conflict in Iran?

00:12:39.560 We've had the prime minister take, depending on who's counting, four or five different positions, beginning with solid support and ending with a request for a ceasefire, calling it illegal, and then finally offering possible Canadian support in the mission.

00:12:58.940 I mean, he was all over the map.

00:13:01.840 That doesn't look good for us.

00:13:03.540 I mean, what must your customers in the United States be thinking?

00:13:10.660 Yeah, they have plenty of comments, let me tell you.

00:13:14.060 But what we see is...

00:13:17.780 Right, exactly.

00:13:19.420 We see the prime minister trying to be everything to everyone, depending on the situation.

00:13:25.540 If he's speaking in a room full of resource executives, he says one thing.

00:13:30.260 If he's talking to the environmental lobby, he's saying another thing.

00:13:35.660 So if he's talking to a group of boomers, he's got another story. 0.98

00:13:39.700 But what people value in politicians is a true consistency of message and people that

00:13:49.940 have integrity so that you know what you're getting.

00:13:53.640 I am appalled that with these floor crossings, that their strategy wasn't to gain the trust of

00:14:03.120 the Canadian people. It seems like they were just creating a story till they could get enough people

00:14:10.840 to drive their true objective. And it's going to be interesting to see what happens. We just saw

00:14:17.420 what happened over the last few days with C9, absolutely ramming that legislation through.

00:14:23.000 um and and you have to ask yourself mark are we going to be able to have this uh forthright

00:14:27.880 conversation about politics and the economy when that legislation is rolled out because

00:14:35.560 it's horrifying what it says and it's horrifying if you've been following what the case with the

00:14:41.960 cbc and um and one of their posts yeah you should be equally horrified at what's going on but it

00:14:52.280 It seems like nothing can wake Canadians up from their slumber.

00:14:56.600 Yeah, I mean, I don't know what it's going to take, how bad things have to get.

00:15:00.820 But I guess there is a certain portion of society that is still doing fine.

00:15:05.760 We know who they are.

00:15:07.820 You know, the age group that is retired and has their own home and things are fine. 0.93

00:15:11.980 Don't want to rock the boat.

00:15:13.120 You know, the opposition that's growing, however, is amongst younger Canadians who are having a harder and harder time finding jobs.

00:15:21.060 Of course, the immigration issue continues to fester because the government seems determined as ever to bring more people into the country, changing things, changing the demographics of the country, presumably because they think it'll be politically advantageous.

00:15:36.660 They don't care if it causes misery in the housing sector or, you know, fuels inflation or joblessness.

00:15:44.480 You know, if they think that they'll get a voting bloc that is going to allow them to stay in power for years to come, then they'll do it regardless.

00:15:52.640 and let's talk about health care uh you know there's a recent story about a woman with a 0.93

00:16:00.400 appendicitis that sat over almost a day before seeing a doctor uh our health care system cannot

00:16:10.880 absorb the the amount of people we're bringing in so it's not just you know you have to think

00:16:16.480 of health care and education and all the social supports um when when you um have unfettered uh

00:16:24.000 immigration and and and i am for immigration if you are going to come to canada and you can fill

00:16:31.200 a hole that we don't have skilled labor um there's a skilled labor shortage i'm all for it but the

00:16:38.480 we had a very good point system uh where the folks that came in were going to be net contributors

00:16:46.480 to our society and we need to ensure that that continues because we just don't have I mean we

00:16:51.920 have a a health care system that is collapsing and you bring more people in um you're we're starting 1.00

00:17:00.400 to see uh the the consequences of that come to fruition and and it's costing people their lives

00:17:06.960 there there is a great video um died waiting you can see it on on the internet um and they've

00:17:14.560 collected all sorts of research on the state of our health care system it's really worth a listen

00:17:22.560 i think you've had some of those folks on your show mark yes i mean uh last time i was in an

00:17:30.240 emergency department in canada it was like a refugee camp i mean it was horrible never got 1.00

00:17:35.920 to see anybody you know waited i don't know how many hours six seven hours and uh never got to

00:17:44.160 see it fortunately i was okay but no it doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence and you know

00:17:51.200 we love to brag about our great health care system but uh there's not much to brag about these days

00:17:58.160 jocelyn thank you so much for coming on the show how do people support the coalition

00:18:01.600 you can find us on all social media like us follow us uh if you're a small to medium-sized

00:18:10.160 business owner or if you want to support small to medium-sized business um please uh join us

00:18:16.320 and sign up we're having our gala um on the 13th of may our game changer of the year award

00:18:22.800 uh check it out uh it's going to be every year it's a great networking and conversation

00:18:29.440 Jocelyn Banford, thank you so much for coming on the show.

00:18:33.240 Always a pleasure.

00:18:35.460 If you enjoyed this show, consider supporting terrific independent journalism by becoming

00:18:40.560 a premier member of Juno News.

00:18:42.460 Go to junonews.com backslash straight up.

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00:18:52.180 Thank you so much, my friends.

00:18:53.300 We'll see you next time.

00:18:59.440 You

Juno News - March 12, 2026

Canada's auto sector hit with MAJOR BLOW

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