Thanks, Madam Chair. I am Derek Nighbor with the Forest Products Association of Canada in west Ottawa, on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. Thanks for the opportunity to be here today.
I want to start by saying that in large part because of the hard work of our over 200,000 forestry workers across the country, our supply chain partners, our industry's deep commitment to health and safety and swift federal and provincial government actions during this pandemic, our sector has been one of the bright lights in the current economy. For the most part, we've been able to keep our people working, deliver essential products to Canadians and contribute to increased levels of revenue to governments across the country over the past year. While many parts of our industry were forced to shut down or limit operations during the first couple of months of the pandemic as customer orders collapsed and prices in lumber and other wood segments plummeted by over 30%, we quickly got people back to work safely and got our part of the economy moving again. We’ve been working non-stop since.
One of our proudest moments, with the support of Natural Resources Canada and Canadian scientists and researchers at FPInnovations, was the development of a world first—a biodegradable non-medical mask made from what would otherwise have been wood waste from Canada's sustainably managed forests. We're pretty proud of that. We thank the government for its support in launching that innovation.
As we think about recovery and our ability to be self-sufficient, we in Canada continue to be in a unique position to leverage the power of our sustainably managed forests and Canadian-made forest products for our people. The products range from lumber for building construction and home renovations to toilet paper, sanitary wipes and paper towels. They range from pulp for protective masks and hospital gowns to biofuels for heating systems. As the government advances its post-pandemic recovery plans, we in Canadian forestry can sustain jobs, attract more global investment, get more people working and be a leader in our shared move to a lower-carbon economy. We will need some help, and we will need the government to do things a little bit differently to help us get there.
Our low-carbon, job-creating solutions are many, and they exist right across the value chain. As the Speech from the Throne said last fall, “farmers, foresters, and ranchers [are] key partners in the fight against climate change”, and governments need to support “their efforts to reduce emissions and build resilience.” We couldn't agree more.
We've been somewhat challenged by the government’s well-intended yet siloed approach to leveraging some of forestry’s environmental and economic solutions. We'd strongly endorse an approach similar to some of our peer nations, such as Sweden and Finland. They have done really robust, sector-wide and very deep full value chain approaches to recovery to maximize carbon and broader environmental benefits and recovery and job opportunities.
Our solutions start in the forest through ecosystems-based management under the purview of provincial governments. They're informed by robust local consultation. This is important work that involves dealing with many values, including dealing with pest and catastrophic fire risks and keeping communities safer from fire. It extends to opportunities to build more with carbon-storing wood products and accelerate the forest-based bioeconomy so that we can bring more environmentally friendly products to Canada and the world.
Back in December, we released a report that provided a bit of a road map for the government to consider under the guise of pandemic recovery. I want to share a few of the top lines from that report, which you can find on FPAC's website.
Today we have over 140 shovel-ready projects across the country, worth over $1.5 billion, that can improve Canadian competitiveness, lower our carbon footprint, save jobs and create new ones. We have solutions to advance renewable fuels development and to accelerate the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers' forest bioeconomy framework. We can ensure that forest management and the conservation measures within Canada’s managed forests are recognized as nature-based climate solutions and help us achieve our conservation and carbon goals.
We need to recognize that worsening fire and pest outbreaks are seriously impacting our country's carbon story. According to the last state of the forest report by NRCan, 251 megatonnes of carbon went up into the air just from forest fires alone. That's an important consideration as we think about carbon and conservation policy going forward. We do have growing concerns around the lack of alignment between federal and provincial governments on forest policy and duplicative regulations that are creating confusion and adding costs.
In closing, the government has stood with us quite firmly in the face of the softwood lumber debate. We would like the government to continue to stand with us as we deal with some anti-forestry bills coming out of the state legislatures in New York and California that are fuelled by anti-Canadian resource activists. I'd be happy to talk about that more.
At this point last year, I was the toilet paper man. This year, I'm the lumber man. I'm happy to answer any market-related questions during the Q and A.
Thanks for the opportunity.