Good morning, Minister. We are very pleased to have you here today to discuss this important matter for both the Quebec and Canadian softwood lumber industry.
With respect to the termination clause, the April 21 draft provided for a seven-to-nine year agreement. At the time, there was no question of terminating the agreement after 23 months, which would result in a loss of $1 billion for the Quebec and Canadian industries.
Much to our and the softwood industry's surprise, we now see that it will be possible to terminate the agreement after 23 months, which is a far cry from the initial seven to nine years. You say this is perfectly normal, but that is not what was originally planned.
How and why did we end up with a 23 month termination clause, when there had been no discussion of this previously?
You also say that this agreement is fragile because of the interpretation of “dumping” you referred to earlier. That is another indication that this agreement could be terminated after 23 months.