Evidence of meeting #13 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was dollar.
Bloc
Robert Vincent Bloc Shefford, QC
I will now change the subject. There are not enough skilled workers. What kind of workers do you need?
Vice-President, Trade and Competitiveness, Forest Products Association of Canada
More and more, as many industries across Canada, we will need skilled workers. One of the things that has happened--
Bloc
Robert Vincent Bloc Shefford, QC
What type of skilled tradespeople do you need? The word “skilled” is general. Do you need workers in plants or in the forest? For which areas do you need these skilled workers?
Vice-President, Trade and Competitiveness, Forest Products Association of Canada
I think if you look at the age profile within the industry, in all aspects of the industry, particularly in the production facilities, the industry is aging, as is the Canadian population, but probably faster in the case of our industry. So certainly we are going to need a lot of specialized labour in our production facilities and also in the forest operations. Although Shawn may know better, I would assume that those would have a somewhat younger age profile. But I think across the board in the industry we're going to be looking for--
Bloc
Robert Vincent Bloc Shefford, QC
I'm interested in knowing what companies are doing to train workers. Have you invested in high school-level training, for instance, and what about training inside your plants?
Director, Corporate Affairs, Canadian Wood Council
We have several programs in our education portfolio where we do try to increase, for example, the amount of education around wood that is in engineering and architectural programs and try to get people into those industries.
Going back to what you were saying before about what type of specialized work area you're looking for, if you look at the example of just someone working in one of our plants somewhere across Canada, it's pretty high-level work. There is some pretty involved machinery, and we're fighting for.... Everyone who might possibly be qualified to work in our industry is also feeling the magnetic draw from Fort McMurray; the oil patch is competing for our workers.
So we're trying to do it on two fronts: providing the education to young people to get them involved in wood, which we think is deficient in university programs; and also using the communities that are supported by wood across Canada and building a wood culture to keep people involved in the industry and keep their communities alive.
Bloc
Robert Vincent Bloc Shefford, QC
Have forestry companies thoughts of creating a school for the study of forestry? I used to be a union representative in that sector and I understand that as far as the forestry industry is concerned...
Conservative
Director, Corporate Affairs, Canadian Wood Council
There are several universities--UBC is an example--that have dedicated, more heavily involved wood programs than others across the country.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Again, I appreciate having you come out as witnesses today and to help with the understanding of the lumber industry. We've been talking a lot about manufacturing across the whole spectrum.
Last night and yesterday, Ms. Morgan, you talked about the softening of the market, the boom. Yesterday we heard on more than one occasion about the boom that is going on in building, the expansion and the housing prices that are going up because we can't keep up with the number of houses; they can't build these houses fast enough. And of course, when houses come, communities develop--commercial industries, schools, and all those sorts of things.
It seemed to be a bit counteractive to what you were just saying. Is this a local issue that we're hearing, or is it something that I'm misunderstanding in terms of your comment?
Vice-President, Trade and Competitiveness, Forest Products Association of Canada
Well, I think what we've seen over the last few years in the United States is quite an unprecedented and sustained boom in housing construction. We have started to see over the last six to eight months that prices start to fall off for lumber and housing starts start to drop a bit. They are still at quite high levels compared to historical averages, but we live in a cyclical industry and things that go up usually come down at some point. We're seeing the early signs that this housing boom may start to be moderating. So things are still okay for the moment, but we're seeing early signs that we may be slowing down.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
It is interesting, and you just mentioned that we are in a cyclical industry. So right now some of the manufacturing industries that are hurting obviously are the oils...the oilfields. It was mentioned by Mr. Dolan about people transferring. You are in competition with that. Being cyclical, is there any research that's been done in terms of how those cycles will actually match with some of the other ones so that there is a more level playing field?
Director, Corporate Affairs, Canadian Wood Council
I think it's fair to say that the cyclical nature of our industry is a given. In recent years the pace of change of that cycle has been almost unprecedented with regard to energy costs and the dollar.
Going back to your point about housing prices versus housing starts, I think you are talking about how the average price of a house is now over $300,000 in Canada. That includes resales. It's not solely based on new construction, which is obviously what we would be more interested in as that is where our product is going.
Housing starts in the U.S. are forecast to go from a current high of almost $2.1 million, down to roughly $1.8 million over the next two to three years, which is a big drop, although it does come down more to historical averages.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
You talk about transformation, about branding, a made-in-Canada approach, which is something we're very supportive of and which is related to quality. I've talked to people in other industries who are saying we don't market Canada very well. This is a particular case of an individual who was in the business of making mobile trailers. He did some very small things, but he started to promote Canada in a different way and it took off.
Can you tell us a little about how you can do something to promote, one, that the quality is important, and, two, how we produce a higher-quality product than anyone else?
Vice-President, Trade and Competitiveness, Forest Products Association of Canada
This is one of the areas that has been a big priority for FPAC since its formation. We really think, as Canadians, that we undersell ourselves and our products. The Fins and the Swedes, both industry and government, don't hesitate to trumpet all the good characteristics of their production and their products. This gives them a sense of national identity.
We've certainly been trying to do that for our FPAC members. We believe that Canada's environmental record and progress in this sector has improved dramatically, is continuing to improve, and is second to none. We know we have to go further, but we think we can brand our products, not only as high quality but as truly sustainable.
We have done that within our association, for example, by working with some of our major customers in the United States. You have probably seen in the news the reports of Wal-Mart's increasing efforts to green itself, its products, and its processes. We work with large U.S. customers who are driving and pushing for some of this change.
We also work to try to get out, as best as we can, the strong environmental record of the industry and the inherent strong characteristics of its wood and paper products, which are recyclable, can be regenerated, and will contribute to our global climate change objectives.
Conservative
Bev Shipley Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
You talked about the environment, which is obviously a significant issue with this government and this country. We're working on made-in-Canada environmental issues. You've talked a lot about how important the environment is and what you've been doing.
Can you relate a little bit about how you're working with our government to make these made-in-Canada environmental issues better, rather than sending billions of dollars to other countries?
Conservative
Vice-President, Trade and Competitiveness, Forest Products Association of Canada
That's a big question.
On the environmental side, there are a couple of issues that have been important for us. One is renewable energy, which I've talked about a fair bit. I think we want to have a role, and our sector should have a role, in the government's made-in-Canada renewable energy, climate change, or air quality policies. We think we've got something to contribute.
We're already engaged in constructive dialogue with the government, with some of our key stakeholders, and with NGOs on issues around air quality, which we believe is a model for other industries and will allow us to improve our air quality and our economic performance at the same time. That's one area where we've been working very intensely with the government.
The other area is on the regulatory side, where we're actively working with both the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada to try to ensure that regulations are implemented in the most effective way possible--to get the same results but get them through a more effective means of implementation. There's a wide variety of areas where we've been working on that front.
Liberal
Jean Lapierre Liberal Outremont, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
We are talking about the future of this industry and its past achievements. However, as far as the number of employees is concerned, it turns out that you often need fewer workers because of technological advances. Restructuring, mergers and acquisitions have changed the nature of the business. Do you believe that ultimately this industry will need fewer employees? Most economists have predicted that the manufacturing sector in general would shed another 100,000 jobs. At the end of this process, although the industry might be more competitive and more productive, it may employ fewer people because its manpower requirements will decrease. Further, in many cases, you will pull out of single industry towns.
I remember having read a report which predicted that, given the elimination of stumpage fees in Quebec and other problems the industry was facing, potentially 70 single industry towns through out Canada might close down. I would like to know what you think the future looks like. When this happens, this often does not affect the health of the industry, but it certainly deeply affects the lives of people. So what do you think the future looks like?
Vice-President, Trade and Competitiveness, Forest Products Association of Canada
We are keenly aware of the fact that restructuring can often lead to great hardship for communities. Our industries are set up in these communities, and that is where the people who work in our industry have grown up. These are not easy decisions to make, especially when a plant constitutes a region's driving economic force. We are living in an era of transformation and it is highly likely that we will see other closures, because it is a long-term necessity. Nevertheless, we are optimistic, because we believe that in the future we will be more competitive in regions where we remain for the long term. Unfortunately, some short-term adjustments are difficult.
