Merci, monsieur le président.
My name is John Rolland. I represent Max Meilleur et fils, which is an independent sawmill. It's a bit of a tongue-twister in English. Luc Dufour, who's at my side, and who will be open for questions in French or English, represents his own sawmill group in the Abitibi. We're both here today as representatives of a group of independent sawmills in Quebec.
The group we represent accounts for about 20% of the total volume of sawn softwood lumber produced in the province of Quebec. This same group represents about 30% of the actual fiscal operations of sawmills of the province of Quebec. I think we're a clear picture of rural Quebec. Our mills are in every area from the Gaspé to the Abitibi to the upper Laurentians.
To continue with my presentation, one thing is clear. We are not here to talk about the deal as a whole. Our group supports the efforts by the federal government to come to a negotiated settlement, but we have some internal concerns, and our concerns lie in history.
Before they grouped together, the independent mills were some of the people who were worst hit by the SLA settlement of 1996. Some of the people no longer exist because of it, and others were financially hit in a very bad way. The reason we are here is to seek federal government support for being treated in an equitable and fair fashion. That is the reason for our presence here today.
We initially came forward about three years ago with a position that, if there was a quota system established—we were not sure whether there would be—each primary producing mill in Quebec have 35% of its production volume as a guaranteed quota. This position has not been supported completely by the provincial government. The Quebec government has come up with a hybrid program, which all of our members support wholeheartedly. It is not a perfect situation; it's a compromise. But it's one we want you to be aware of and would like you to support.
The first point is that we're looking for federal support of the Quebec hybrid system. We feel it is one that will get general support from our industry as a whole. The other point that's important in this hybrid system is that it's equitable and has flexibility. It allows for concerns Mr. Monahan mentioned earlier about flexibility, allowing new entrants access to the U.S. market.
What is it? What we are looking for is that 30% of the quota in the province of Quebec be on a first-come, first-served basis. The other 70% would be based on historical shipments. The 70% based on historical shipments should take care of any concerns firms may have with regard to their contractual obligations with U.S. customers.
When this system is in place, we think that over a seven- to nine-year period markets will change. We would like to see a revision of the historical figures of each firm on a yearly basis. This could be based on the prior year's shipments or on an average of the prior two or three years' shipments.
The other thing that is important to us is that this system have safeguards. There are two key safeguards we're looking for. The first is that if a firm has historical shipments and is not going to be using these historical shipments, they put them back in the pool or lose them.
The second point, which again was generated by the Quebec government, and we support them on this, is that the first in, first out system is really going to be permits. If my firm applies for a permit and I do not use the permit, there would be a financial penalty for its non-use.
What we're trying to do is to make sure we have a level playing field, so that no one can take advantage of the system. We have made Mr. Emerson's office aware of our position, and I think they have a full understanding of the system that the Quebec government is promoting. These points are key to preventing abuse of the system.
The last point is that, like all systems, we don't think it will be perfect, and the Quebec government has indicated it would be looking for an advisory board with regard to the day-to-day mechanics of this system, possibly revising it on a yearly or bi-yearly basis. And we would expect that our SUNITEQ group will have representation on this board.
Gentlemen, thank you very much for your time and for letting us bring our position forward. If there are any questions, we will be glad to answer them in French or in English, and you can address them to Mr. Dufour or me.
Thank you.