Thank you very much to our witnesses for being here with us today.
A recurring theme at this committee over the life of this Parliament has been a contention by many witnesses across many different industries that Canada really stands out in terms of not doing a lot of industrial planning, or sector-based industrial planning. I think what we've heard from a number of sectors is that they'd like to be able to sit down with government and hash out a medium- and long-term plan for their industry and really coordinate government policy with the aspirations of the industry.
Of course, when we're talking about a really important emerging industry, even less emerging now than it was five to 10 years ago, in terms of clean tech, obviously this is important.
Could each of you speak a bit to the way your industry is able to engage with government and the extent to which you feel there should be some more formal planning with government around your industry, whether it's trade policy or certain kinds of domestic policy, such as procurement, which I know has come up already today on several occasions? How can it work within your industry to make sure that there is actually a plan and that the actions of government and the policies of government are reinforcing the development of the industry in a way that's beneficial both to businesses and to workers within the industry?
Are you satisfied that the government is where it needs to be on that? Do you think Canada stands out as not doing as much as our allies and competitors around industrial planning? What do you think those missing pieces are?
I'll start with Ms. Jackson, and then we can go to our witnesses from the Forest Products Association.
Thank you.