Thank you, Mr. Chair.
And thanks very much to the committee for the opportunity to appear.
I'm representing the New Economy Alliance, and this is the first time, to my knowledge, in Canada that a group of industries representing forestry, chemicals, agriculture, renewable fuels, and biotechnology have come together with a common vision, one that seeks to see Canada develop a world-leading bioeconomy that adds value to our vast wealth of natural resources.
By happy circumstance, one of the founding members of the New Economy Alliance is beside me here, so, Mr. Chair, if you'll allow me, I'll save 30 seconds at the end for Avrim to also talk about why the Forest Products Association of Canada supports the New Economy Alliance.
Ladies and gentlemen, as you contemplated the questions that you put before all of us to answer, I was looking at all five of those questions, and two words kept coming to my mind. On every question that you asked, I couldn't help but think the answer to it was, “Make stuff”. Now, of course, Canada does make stuff. So if you don't want two words, and you want five, then it's “Make stuff from renewable resources” or “Make stuff from Canada's natural resources”.
Canada has a wealth of natural resources. We have 10% of the world's forests, for example. For decades Canada has been accused of being hewers of wood and drawers of water. What the New Economy Alliance is attempting to suggest is that in fact we need to take that natural resource advantage and create more than mere extraction value from it to drive the Canadian economy. Sophisticated value-added manufacturing jobs generate greater tax revenues for government.
In practical terms, what are we talking about here? Well, we need to learn how to do more with a tree than making two-by-fours and pulp. We need to make a new generation of manufactured goods, produced wholly or in part from renewable resources such as agricultural crops, trees, plants, micro-organisms, and organic residues.
Goods produced from renewable resources are typically referred to as bioproducts or biomaterials or biochemicals, and they include things like solvents and plastics and paints and adhesives and insulation and textiles and cosmetics and diapers. Canadians consume all of these products, but by making them in Canada as well, we can provide opportunities for traditional industries to upgrade and expand and stimulate much-needed economic development in rural and coastal communities, where a lot of these resources reside.
Value-added resource upgrading and technology innovation could open up multi-billion-dollar markets for a Canadian industry. The 2009 global market for green chemicals alone was $46 billion, and it is forecast to be $62 billion by 2015. So the members of the New Economy Alliance believe that by adding value, i.e. “making stuff”, we could supply this fast-growing international bioproducts market.
Our written submission refers you to others who make the same point. One is a quote I took from the July/August edition of Foreign Affairs magazine that asks why Germany is such a success today. And the quote is:
...having companies that “make something” is a key element of economic success, in part because manufacturing jobs have historically paid above average wages. For its part, Germany embraced manufacturing, and much of its economic success is thanks to that decision.
And the OECD's comment is:
If it continues on course, the bioeconomy could make major socioeconomic contributions in OECD and non-OECD countries. ...The bioeconomy's success is not, however, guaranteed: harnessing its potential will require coordinated policy action by governments to reap the benefits of the biotechnology revolution.
That last quote really gets me to the sole ask. And I know everybody was allowed three, but we really only have one ask of the Government of Canada--and that's basically whichever is the appropriate department, whether it be Agriculture Canada or Natural Resources Canada or Industry Canada, or a combination of departments. They should, in collaboration with industry and other stakeholders, assess what the precise steps are that need to be taken. Are these tax steps? Are these program design steps? Is it government procurement? What steps need to be taken to drive investment in the bioeconomy and set Canada on the path to sustainable job creation and economic recovery?
I thank you for your attention, and I'll turn the floor over to Avrim for 30 seconds on why the Forest Products Association was one of the founding members of the New Economy Alliance.