Good morning, gentlemen. Welcome and thank you for your presentations.
My first question is for Mr. Yada, but I am also addressing everyone else. Mr. Yada, you talked about nanotechnology. I'm not sure how familiar you are with this new technology. I use the word “new”, but given the way our world works... Where I come from, in Quebec, we have a lot of agricultural producers. Some of them are forestry producers and they own private woodlots. The forest industry has had its share of difficulties over the last few years. The economic crisis hit the softwood industry very hard since construction has gone down in the U.S. There is not that much opportunity for trade with the Americans. So we are looking for new ways to use our wood.
In my constituency, we are building a pilot plant. I would like to discuss this with you since you are scientists. This technology is called nanocrystalline cellulose. Are any of you familiar with that?
So they are going to extract this nanocellulose from the wood and it will be used for many different things. It could be used for floor coating, paint, pharmaceutical products, and so on. This is perhaps a worthwhile option, but I am not very familiar with it. But I know that the pilot plant should be up and running by September 2011. I am somewhat familiar with the various possible applications because I have met with people who told me about them, given that the plant is in my constituency. Domtar, the paper company, FPInnovations, another Quebec company and the two levels of government, meaning Quebec and Ottawa, have all invested in this pilot plant.
Could someone give me more information about what this technology could do for our woodlot producers? We often have hopes, whether in terms of biofuels or other sectors. For example, we know that we are able to make this grow or that grow or that we are able to keep things growing. So we hope to have spinoffs, economic of course, which is not always the case. Is there anyone who could share their expertise with us?