Last February, as part of a review of services in Canada, the Réseau des ingénieurs du Québec was invited to appear before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology in the House of Commons, in Ottawa. Committee members invited groups from different industries, and we were very pleased to be given an opportunity to highlight the importance of engineering in Quebec and the challenges we now face.

After explaining the Réseau's mission and the services it offers to its members, we outlined the main issues that engineers have to deal with on a daily basis, including international competition and the trend towards job relocation. We emphasized that these changes are having a major impact on our jobs and work structure, not to mention on the nation's overall economy and social fabric.

We also pointed out to Committee members that Quebec's engineering expertise has an outstanding reputation, which governments should leverage more forcefully in their international negotiations. The Réseau feels that Canada should make it a priority to actively pursue a free-trade agreement with the European Union, in addition to alleviating inter-provincial trade barriers within Canada, which we believe are still too cumbersome. These measures would help increase the flow of business and open new markets for companies.

In addition, we reasserted our desire to help develop sustainable development technologies, both in the industrial and service sectors. It is high time for Quebec and Canada to take advantage of their exportable knowledge in the environmental technologies field.

Obviously, we also outlined the results of our studies, which clearly show that our competitiveness depends on our ability to leverage our engineering expertise and our brainpower, which are key resources for high-tech, high-value-added industries. We must also boost our manufacturing productivity, improve our infrastructures, increase our R&D investments and modernize our production.

To learn more, please read our complete presentation (In French only).