Thank you, Mr. Bouchard.
Mr. Chairman, when you look at the Canadian forest industry as a whole, it is clear that operations are located in villages scattered here and there. These are isolated populations. I think we're talking about 800,000 jobs in Canada. It is one of the main industries in Canada that needs to be protected. In that respect, you are absolutely right. The federal government did the right thing when it supported the auto industry, but it should have provided the same support to the forest industry.
There are constraints; there is no doubt about that. Earlier we were talking about NAFTA, but there are ways to support our industry. As I said before, access to credit and refinancing was one avenue we were in favour of. In a few weeks or months from now, we will know the outcome of the Softwood Lumber Agreement arbitration where all these issues will be debated, and at that point, things will be clear for us.
If you don't mind, I would like to add something to the previous discussion. I would just like to point out that there are business models in Quebec. In newsprint, there are three companies: AbitibiBowater, White Birch Papers and Kruger. The first two—the two largest—placed themselves under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act and the last one terminated its operations. This is a very significant problem and not a simple one to resolve, because were that the case, there would also be solutions. As things now stand, it's complicated.