In response to an earlier question, I talked a bit about the expanding markets opportunity program and the forest innovation program. We see enormous continuing demand in China, India, and Japan. The markets are different. The Japanese market is looking for high-quality wood.
I was in the Sendai district, which had been hit by the tsunami, and I was very moved to see a ship carrying B.C. lumber that had come in. That lumber is being used for reconstruction efforts in that country and is greatly appreciated. Canadian wood is very well respected there.
In China, I was in an area where the very first four-storey wood-frame building in the entire country had been constructed. There's a cultural issue there. We need to propagate the advantages of wood. Wood lasts a long time—the Forbidden City is made of wood—and the Chinese know that, even though they don't have many homes that are built from wood. It's more resistant to earthquakes, and, depending on the quality, it can be very attractive for price-sensitive buyers, which the Chinese market has.
There is enormous potential. Given the huge increase in the middle class in China and India and the demand for second homes, which can often be wood-frame homes, we see tremendous opportunity.
Frankly, if it weren't for the Chinese market, I don't know where the Canadian lumber industry would be today. I've heard that expressed on numerous occasions. Frankly, that market plus the $1.7 billion that our government has invested actually saved the industry.