Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to all our witnesses here today. This is a very important study. We're talking about the softwood lumber tariffs and their impact on the industry here in Canada. This industry employs about 400,000 people across Canada, so we have some witnesses today from certain provinces that employ quite a few members and stakeholders. After nine years and three U.S. presidents, the Prime Minister has failed to secure a softwood lumber deal, killing jobs in Canada.
To give some key stats on that from Statistics Canada, between 2015 and 2021, Canada's forestry sector experienced a decline of 90,000 jobs, from 300,000 to 210,000 positions. It was quite possibly the largest decline of any single sector in Canada. We had the Prime Minister on late night TV about a month ago, saying this was just a small issue.
Mr. Niquidet, you are representing your province. Can you tell me if this is a small issue, and what has the impact been on jobs in your province since 2015?