There were two mechanisms, including a very broad based committee dealing with more horizontal issues, called the International Trade Advisory Committee, or ITAC, and 15 or more sectoral groups established with a view to gathering more detailed feedback on the issues under negotiation. That mechanism worked for a certain number of years. It has fallen out of favour in recent years, which means that there is no longer any real formal mechanism in place. However, there is more of an opportunity for industry groups to use websites and the Internet, for example, to present their views to government. That is not a bad thing, but it does not replace the mechanisms that were in place previously, and it most certainly does not provide an opportunity to bring together different points of view.
Once again, I will use the softwood lumber example. Unfortunately, there is no industry organization that represents the entire Canadian softwood lumber industry. That means that a lot of people have to be invited if you want to know what the industry's views are. In the case of the last dispute, the last meeting where everyone was around the table was in April of 2003. As you know, the issue remained on the table until October of 2006. In those three and a half years, there has not been a meeting which brought together all the stakeholders. I believe that is a partial explanation for the amount of time the dispute lasted. There again, I believe there is a need to restore these same consultation mechanisms and change them, if need be. There is absolutely no doubt, however, that the current approach is really not satisfactory.
I would like to make one last point. When anti-dumping measures are being discussed and we have to come before the WTO, the Canadian team does not include industry lawyers, unlike the U.S. team. That is clearly a problem, given that the expertise with respect to dumping is within the industry, as opposed to federal departments here in Ottawa.
I read your report with great interest. It makes a lot of points that I would like to comment on, but I don't have the time to do that now.
I am now available to take any questions you may have.
Thank you.