After years of advocating for the auto industry in Windsor, the new Canadian Consul General in Detroit figures he will again be supporting for car makers.
Joe Comartin was appointed to the position last week by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland. He will advocate for Canadian interests in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, all states where the auto industry has a large footprint.
He told BlackburnNews.com, a small part of his work in the new job would be helping people with things like their work visas.
The lion's share of his duties will be related to facilitating trade between Canada and the U.S. Now that Canada has agreed to the new United States Mexico Canada Agreement, much of that work will centre around the auto industry.
"The amount of parts that goes into vehicles is going to increase by about 10 per cent. This area of North America is primarily suited to take on that production responsibility," he said.
Not just North American automakers, Comartin says the European auto industry will need to help too.
"I think you'll also see investment coming in from Europe and Asia," said Comartin. "Those are companies in those countries that have parts that they are supplying to the North American market and they're going to have to settle their production in North America in order to stay productive and get the contracts."
Comartin takes over as Consul General from Douglas George on October 29.
He was the Member of Parliament for Windsor-Tecumseh for 14 years. As a lawyer, he also represented the CAW/Unifor.
The USMCA still has to be ratified by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.