Thank you very much.

I am here from the Canadian Union of Public Employees. That's Canada's largest union, with over 750,000 members across Canada. CUPE members take great pride in delivering quality services in communities across a broad cross-section of the economy, including in energy, utilities, transportation and airlines.

Globally, we're experiencing the unprecedented impacts of climate change, and many of our members are facing this challenge in both their work and home lives. In response to this challenge, many nations are implementing strategies to speed up the transition to a low-carbon economy.

It is clear the global economy is moving towards a reality where carbon-based adjustment mechanisms are happening at borders. In Canada, we have the additional challenge presented by uncertainties over the U.S. threat of tariffs and the review of CUSMA coming up. It's important to remember that U.S. states and industries may have priorities and approaches that differ from Trump's. As my colleague said before, it's not clear what being in lockstep with the U.S. actually means right now.

Our economy must adapt, though, and be positioned to take advantage of the massive industrial and economic opportunities that are coming with the shift to a low-carbon economy. We can do that through a comprehensive industrial strategy, which means we're all working together to protect Canada's interests and clearly prioritize the interests of workers, their families and their communities. A good example of how we've done this already is the way our transition off of coal energy generation contributed to cleaner manufacturing in most Canadian sectors. That gives us an advantage in the current reality.

The European Union is Canada's second-largest trading partner for goods and services, and they have already implemented a border adjustment tool. This presents the opportunity to develop a robust industrial strategy that diversifies our economy and trade partners and includes a pro-worker agenda.

I am also a member of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement domestic advisory group. As the CLC representative mentioned on your previous panel, our EU counterparts have expressed their keen interest in purchasing clean products from Canada because of our high labour and environmental standards. One of the immediate government priorities should be to urgently develop a Canadian border adjustment mechanism that aligns with the EU and U.K. CBAMs. This will help us open more doors to trade and to good-paying jobs in Canada and will help us minimize the impact of unfair trade practices from the U.S.

Particularly in the context of our domestic carbon price and other domestic carbon prices, a CBA will help protect Canadian industries and jobs and will reduce global carbon emissions. Such a framework would ensure foreign producers bear equivalent carbon costs and help prevent unfair competition in our domestic market. That helps level the playing field and ensures importers accurately price the environmental costs of their activities.

This embodies the principles that align perfectly with Canada's climate and trade objectives. We know the cost of inaction is enormous and presents serious risks. Without equivalent measures, low-cost, high-emission imports will continue to undercut Canadian producers and jeopardize thousands of good-paying jobs. Given the challenges and opportunities we're presented with, a border adjustment mechanism is a fair and predictable way to keep Canadian companies competitive and keep jobs in our communities.

Thank you.

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