I'd like to talk briefly about forests and carbon credit in the context of community development. As forests grow they sequester, or store, carbon. The maintenance of healthy forests across Canada is expected to provide an opportunity for significant participation in the global market for carbon credits. Although the market for credits in Canada has not been developed to the extent of other countries' around the world, the management and trade of these credits will present a great opportunity for economic benefit at some point in the future.
We believe forest-dependent communities should be given an opportunity to participate and benefit in this emerging sector.
In order to move forward with this initiative, we would like to explore the potential for a pilot project, through which our community would play a role in the development of a mechanism for marketing and management of credits. Presumably the financial benefit would help to offset economic losses associated with the restructuring of the forest industry.
Lastly, I'd like to address the issue of the timeliness of release and assistance. It's critical that governments at all levels get more involved in assisting the forest industry and affected communities through this crisis. Although we were very pleased to learn that the government had decided to release the funding for the aid package, we have had great difficulty in getting specific information from either the provincial government or the federal government, with respect to accessing this funding.
We also urge you to work closely and quickly with your provincial counterparts in Ontario, and appropriate municipalities, to provide some short-term relief to the industry. Possible actions are the elimination of crown dues for a period of time, the elimination of provincial fuel taxes, the adjustment of worker safety insurance board rates, the notion of offsetting assistance to municipalities to allow for a deferral or reduction in municipal taxes, and interim direct assistance to municipalities to allow for infrastructure maintenance while the industry is unable to contribute.
In closing, I'll pass it back to Terry.