Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the honourable member and the parliamentary secretary to Minister Emerson. You're doing a great job, and thank you for your questioning. Coming from British Columbia, as does Mr. Julian from the NDP, as well as the Honourable Minister Emerson, I can say that we have a serious issue.
First of all, about 55% of our lumber exports are to the U.S. So this is a serious and significant issue, and obviously one that provides some certainty and stability to the industry. The majority of British Columbians are very thankful, as are all Canadians for that matter.
Also, the issue that is of concern in B.C. as compared to the rest of Canada is something called the pine beetle. I'm sure everybody's heard about it. If you haven't seen any pictures you can go online and look at it. It's destroying our British Columbian forests. Minister Emerson, maybe you could just allude to that a little bit.
I also wanted to thank you. As a member of the government, I had an opportunity to be in the room for some of the negotiations. I don't know the position each of you takes with respect to coming to the government side, but I want to say that your wisdom, expertise, and knowledge have been invaluable to all British Columbians and Canadians, and I want to thank you for putting your own personal reputation on the line to help all Canadians with this deal.
As a British Columbian, I would like to know--and time is not on our side because of the pine beetle--what would happen if we didn't sign this deal, and what the implications would be for our industry and specifically for B.C.