Madam Chair, as the minister noted, the softwood lumber dispute with the United States has been going on since probably the early 1980s, and I think the honourable member did hit at the crux of the dispute, which is a difference in forest management practices.
The majority of forest land in Canada is Crown-owned land, publicly owned land, while the majority of forest land in the United States is privately owned. The U.S. Lumber Coalition, which is the main driver in the United States industry for this dispute, contends that the difference in stumpage fees between what is charged in Canada for harvesting on public land and what is charged in the United States for harvesting on private land is a subsidy. We do not agree with this whatsoever, so I think that is the crux of the issue.