Thank you both for your questions.
I will briefly touch on the situation as regards the border mills. The agreement specifically considers the circumstances of these companies, of which there are 30. I won't address the mechanics of the agreement, but basically they will be able to continue to operate as before, except that there will now be free trade, or almost. The reason for that is that these border mills use mainly American timber. Because they get their supply of timber from the United States, one can hardly conceive of their being accused of obtaining their timber under conditions different from those that prevail in the market.
Sometimes the provinces are accused of creating an environment that does not reflect market conditions. However, it is very clear that border mills get their supply of timber from private American wood lots and, therefore, based on conditions which are undeniably market conditions. In fact, I believe access to timber on Crown lands in Quebec also occurs based on market conditions, since we copy those conditions when developing our formula for accessing timber.
Consequently, border mills have every reason to be satisfied with this agreement, as I know they are, since I have talked to a number of their representatives. As for the rest, I'd say that without reinventing the wheel, the Canadian government has nevertheless developed quite an attractive formula for returning the money. Indeed, I believe this was the subject of some debate in the House of Commons at one time. Mr. Paquette referred to it a little earlier. Basically, we have institutions that can act as banks and provide bridge financing as a means of ensuring that the monies are repaid before a certain date. The Canadian government will thus be reimbursed gradually, because of the imperatives of the U.S. administration and legislation, which are extremely complex. We are talking literally about hundreds of thousands of cheques. Every time a cheque crosses the border, it has to be recorded in a log book. Theoretically, there will have to be as many refunds as there were cheques. So, one can easily understand what a nightmare this could be for our companies.
The Canadian government decided to subrogate them in their rights and wait for the U.S. administration to refund the money. I believe the agreement provides for a six-month time frame. I see this as the perfect arrangement, and one which will allow many Quebec companies to get through the winter with fewer problems.