I must say that Quebec is quite advanced on many fronts, in that it already has a protected area network that amounts to 8%; it already has pilot projects on ecosystem management; a plan for the woodland caribou is being formulated; it already has a chief forester who monitors forest activities each day; and cutting in the forest has dropped by 23% overall. We are also establishing a comprehensive system that will probably be implemented at the end of this year. At present, 16 groups in Quebec are working in partnership. They include hunters, fishers, outfitters and municipal unions. We also have one union involved, the FTQ, and I think the CSN has also been invited to join a group. In the end, we will probably have some twenty groups working together to safeguard the health and longevity of our forests, with a forest management system that is viable and sustainable.
I would remind the committee what sustainable development means. It does mean protecting the environment, but it also involves social, human and economic considerations. If you are somewhat familiar with Quebec, you will know that it owes its existence to the forest industry. When you take the forest industry away from all these small towns, all the towns cease to exist, and people simply have to leave. By the time we reach the end of the crisis at the end of 2009—we were talking about labour earlier, and you also mentioned it a number of different times—we fear we may have lost 2,000 to 3,000 field workers. We simply will not be ready for the economic renewal. The federal government has to get involved.