Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'd like to thank all the committee members for giving me the opportunity to talk to them about our reality and what we're actually experiencing, day after day, in the softwood lumber industry.
My name is David Hamel. I'm the operation manager at Clermond Hamel Ltd., a family business that has been based in Saint-Éphrem-de-Beauce for over 135 years now. My sister France, my brother Nicolas and I are part of the fifth generation to work there. Our story begins in 1890 with my great-great-grandfather, who operated a small sawmill powered by water from the river. Today, we've become a large, modern sawmill producing 150 million board feet of wood per year. One hundred per cent of our wood comes from private forests.
We produce wood that can be found in homes, businesses and infrastructure across the country. That represents approximately 4,000 trucks of finished products every year, not including chips, sawdust, shavings and bark, which account for just as much. We employ over 140 people, many of whom have been there for over 30, 40 and even 50 years. They're passionate workers who care deeply about their profession and the region. Around 100 indirect jobs also depend on our activity.
Over the years, we've consistently invested in technology, automation and training to always stay the best and be the leaders in our field.
We're currently going through an extremely difficult period. Since August 9, tariffs imposed by the United States on Canadian softwood lumber have skyrocketed. We've gone from 14% to over 35%. Since October 14, an additional 10% has been added. In concrete terms, we're now paying 45% in tariffs to export our wood. I said “we” because, in the softwood lumber sector, it's the exporter who pays the anti-dumping and countervailing duties and the Trump tax.
The result was that a company like ours, which was still making a profit in July, went into deficit overnight. Before those increases, half of our production went to the United States. Today, we export barely 5% of our production, so we've turned inward to the Canadian market. All of our competitors have done the same thing, and the result is that the Canadian market is being inundated with wood. Prices are falling, and it's getting worse every week. In three months, the price of two-by-fours in Canada has gone from $2.91 to $2.60, down by 12%, while our costs continue to rise.
In Canada, forestry accounts for a total of 495,000 direct and indirect jobs, a GDP of $34 billion and exports of $45 billion. In Canada, our sawmills are some of the highest performing in North America. Almost 95% of them are already highly modernized and equipped with the latest technology. We don't need loans to become more productive, we already are, and that would only make it worse. What we need is a bit of breathing room at a time when the pressure is getting unbearable.
That's where the government can really improve things. It has to make us independent from the United States. It should give us back the money from the retaliatory tariffs that it imposed this year. It's also important to stop saying that there's a housing shortage in Canada and ensure that homes are built with wood, while rewarding those who use wood in their construction. All construction and renovation of public buildings should use wood. Another way to help us would be to reduce costs at the source, including harvesting, transportation and energy costs, which would enable sawmills to have a better supply cost. The government could also negotiate a different agreement with the United States on mills that source 100% from private forests, as was the case between 2006 and 2015, since the supply costs are higher than those for public forests.
Softwood lumber isn't just an export product; it's a source of national pride, a unique know-how and the economic heart of many regions like ours. If nothing is done, a part of our industrial history is at risk of disappearing, along with the jobs of the thousands of workers who will have given everything for their craft.
The bottom line is that we're not going to be able to hold on for very long while suffering financial losses, and we need help quickly. The Canadian market is being inundated with wood, so prices are dropping every week. The current market also isn't enough to consume all the wood produced, so it's important to stimulate wood consumption, and quickly.
The time to act is now.