Mr. Chair, maybe I'll speak to the motion.
I look at some of the recommendations we've made, for example recommendation 2, that the Government of Canada ensure that its consultations regarding negotiations for new softwood lumber agreements with the United States include stakeholders who may have been overlooked in the past, especially aboriginal stakeholders and small producers. What we're hearing from the industry is mass confusion. We're hearing that some people have the ability to talk to trade officials, and some people do not. I don't know if that's true or not, so I would like to know what the truth is there.
We're hearing that the U.S. trade officials aren't even coming to the table, that we present a position and they don't even give a counter offer. Again, I don't know if that's true or not. Those are rumours that are circulating around the sector. I would like to get to the bottom of that.
The motion really highlights the fact that 350,000 jobs are at stake here—and they are at risk; don't kid yourself. I come from Prince Albert. I experienced the Weyerhaeuser mill shutdown. I experienced the shutdown of the sawmills in Carrot River, Big River, and Prince Albert because of a bad agreement, or because no agreements were in place, and what can happen to the community. The City of Prince Albert lost $1 million alone from their tax base because of that. This is a very serious issue. I think we should definitely move forward with this motion, considering what's at stake: $20 billion to the Canadian economy.
I also want to highlight the fact that Quebec is asking for an exclusion, because they have changed the way they go about doing their stumpage. That's not being talked about by Mr. Moen today.
I think it's very important that we get this confusion out of the industry so that we know exactly where we are. That's why I think the motion is justified in this case.