It is critical that the government work with us to bring about these changes, this transformation. We would prefer there to be a global market in which only private companies would compete. But that is a dream, not the reality. In Europe and the U.S., the government is still involved in achieving this transformation. If we want to save jobs at home, if we want to be in the game, we need the government's help. Here is something very interesting: according to a study we did, the future of bioenergy in Canada will involve companies, infrastructures and plants that are currently in existence.
You can't build a bio-energy plant using forest waste and make any money if it's stand-alone. It has to be integrated. There are seven times more jobs when it's integrated into the existing world of lumber, pulp and paper, and forest products than when it's stand-alone. And the environmental footprint is far smaller when it's integrated.
There is a real way to protect jobs at home and improve our environmental performance. It depends, however, on a government investment, one that is at least equivalent to that of other governments.