I'm Lynn Peterson, the Mayor of Thunder Bay. Thank you very much for the opportunity to discuss the impact on forestry and manufacturing in my community.
Forestry is the lifeblood of every community across northern Ontario, and Thunder Bay is no exception. In Thunder Bay, our sawmills and pulp and paper operations collectively accounted for--that's the past tense--almost $2.5 billion of annual sales in Ontario's forest products sector. Our output of forest-based products accounted for almost 6% of Canada's total output, and our sawmills in Thunder Bay and region accounted for almost 50% of the total Ontario softwood lumber exported to the United States. That translated to 4,127 sawmill and pulp and paper jobs in Thunder Bay, with about a $400-million payroll.
When we consider the fact that the forest industry represents over 60% of Canada's trade surplus, the Thunder Bay stats underscore the importance of this industry and the major contribution my community made to the national GDP. Unfortunately, the forest industry is in crisis, as we all know. The impact on Thunder Bay has resulted in the loss of 2,400 jobs, which means that 2,400 families are facing uncertain times, where at least one person is under-employed, unemployed, or working elsewhere to make ends meet. Many of them go to Alberta.
When we experience this type of job loss in our community it affects us on many levels. As families leave the city it impacts our business sector, erodes the property tax base, and leaves us with a human resource deficit due to the exodus of highly skilled tradespeople.
While the industry is facing challenging times--and my notes say I am confident, but I am not--it is imperative that the forest industry gets back to being a stable and prosperous sector. It is by no means a sunset industry, and I get extremely upset when people think it's a dying industry. Forestry is a growing industry everywhere but in Canada. Canada's forest industry could and should be a world leader. Boreal forest covers 35% of Canada's total mass, with 18 million hectares of that in my backyard. We have the water and energy to produce forest products, and we have the skilled labour.
We have another thing that no other country can say it has: our industry is a good steward of the environment. You can look at the United Nations for those answers. What we lack is the ability to compete on the global market. There are a number of reports out there, such as the ones you heard at the natural resources committee the other day. You will hear from the gentleman from labour this afternoon. The fact of the matter is that a lot of things need to be done to create a world-class business climate for the forestry industry in Ontario.
I also understand that the federal and provincial governments are still in the negotiation phase on the distribution of the $1 billion national community development trust fund. I think the first priority should be to create a climate that will allow forestry workers to go back to work. Then the remaining money.... I have no idea what is being negotiated at this point and how this going to roll out. The forest industry needs to be stabilized. The government needs to provide mechanisms to make the industry able to compete in the global market and get people back to work.
The same thing needs to be said about the manufacturing sector. It also needs to be able to compete in the global market. This can be achieved by implementing Canadian content legislation. Canada is one of the few countries in the world that does not have local content policy in place for all infrastructure jobs, using public funds. This means Canadian manufacturers are at a distinct disadvantage when pursuing contracts in other nations, and they have no particular advantage at home.
The hard reality is there's very little preventing foreign suppliers from winning Canadian contracts, using Canadian tax dollars, and then taking the work offshore to benefit regions in other countries. Canadian manufacturers deserve to compete on an equal footing in the global marketplace. Canadian businesses, communities, and citizens deserve to enjoy some economic benefit from public projects funded by their own tax dollars. The Canadian government needs to recognize the greater contribution made to the local economy by local businesses by implementing a mechanism to give in-country enterprises the same consideration enjoyed by foreign businesses.
I think it's interesting that a recent study conducted by the Toronto Transit Commission to determine the number of components available in Canada for the recent streetcar request for proposals concluded that only 25% of the streetcar components were accessible in this country. I believe we need to look at what opportunities exist in Canada to bring that total to 60% and require that the final assembly be done in Canada to ensure that we can say our products are truly made in Canada.
Thank you.