The auto industry in Canada is recommending creation of an auto investment board that would seek new investments in the sector and market Canada globally to manufacturers.

That's the key proposal to be examined today by the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council, a joint industry-government group set up to establish a strategic vision for the sector in Canada and help this country to win new assembly plants with their high-paying jobs and spinoff benefits.

The board would be financed by governments, stakeholders and utilities, according to the recommendation.

It would consist of teams of professional specialists, take the lead in putting Canada's best foot forward on specific investment proposals and integrate government initiatives designed to attract auto makers.

The CAPC group would be made permanent and also play a role in marketing the Canadian industry.

"Canada has a good story that has to get out there," one industry source said.

The joint group was established last year amid a backdrop of plant closings here by DaimlerChrysler AG, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., and massive investments by offshore-based manufacturers in the U.S. South that were aided by government incentives worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Alabama alone has spent about $900-million (U.S.) enticing DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz division, Honda Motor Co. Ltd. and Hyundai Motor Co. to open assembly plants in the state.

That was happening as the CAPC was formed, but since then, automotive investment has flooded into China, creating fears -- particularly within the Canadian Auto Workers union -- that auto makers will use that country as a manufacturing base and ship vehicles to North America, eliminating jobs here.

Governments should remember that auto makers are looking globally when they consider locations for new assembly plants, one industry source said yesterday.

"Canada is not competing just with the U.S. and Mexico," this source said. "Canada needs to find a way to get and stay competitive."

And even as each of the three Detroit-based companies was closing or preparing to close an assembly plant, DaimlerChrysler abandoned a plan to build a $1.6-billion (Canadian) leading-edge pickup truck plant in Windsor, Ont., that would have created 1,000 direct jobs and thousands more at parts suppliers.

The next big test of how willing Ottawa and Ontario are to win new investment comes with Ford, as the second-largest U.S. auto maker studies a plan for a redevelopment -- worth $1-billion or more -- of its Oakville, Ont., operations.

The auto maker is closing its pickup truck plant at that location in the spring but has proposed turning its neighbouring minivan plant later this decade into a flexible manufacturing facility. It would be able to turn out several models from one or more platforms, the basic chassis or the underpinning of a vehicle.