I'll go to you, Mr. Behboodi.
First, thank you for your testimony. This isn't steel-related. I come from a forest community on Vancouver Island, Port Alberni.
The federal government highlighted in the 2023 fall economic statement the opportunity for Canada to leverage the economic and environmental benefits of waste biomass conversion for heat and energy, noting that it's a high-potential decarbonization pathway. As the Canadian forest sector weathers significant market headwinds, particularly, as I said, in my home province of B.C., extracting more value from forest biomass will offer significant opportunity for forestry workers and communities, yet the government has been dragging its feet.
We know that, as a source of carbon-neutral energy, biomass has the potential to provide Canadian electrical grids with a sustainable and reliable source of energy while creating high-paying jobs for rural and remote communities. It also includes the displacement of emissions, intensive forms of energy used to power our communities while reducing the vulnerability of our forests to devastating fires.
Could you speak about how timely the passage of these ITCs is as part of the fall economic statement? Certainly we know that industry stakeholders have grown deeply concerned about the long delays in the passage of this implementing legislation, recognizing that Canada's competitors in the United States have had a two-year start with the passage of the IRA, which includes similar investment tax credit provisions.