Thank you for appearing today, Mr. Milne.
I'm Alistair MacGregor. I'm the southern neighbour of Sheila Malcolmson. My riding runs from Chemainus down to Langford. I have the Crofton pulp mill, and I have the sawmills in Chemainus and in Cowichan Bay. It's great to see a fellow Vancouver Islander.
I was really interested in your comments about the supply of fibre available for your operations having declined.
As you know very well, the topic of raw log exports is an explosive item on Vancouver Island. In 1997 we had 200,000 cubic metres exported, and now exports exceed 5.5 million cubic metres. In that time we've seen thousands of jobs already lost.
As this new agreement is being negotiated, I was curious to hear your thoughts on the whole raw logs issue and how the increase in exports may or may not have affected your operations in trying to find fibre.