Thank you for your question, Mr. Cardin.
My name is Jean-Pierre Martel and I am Vice-President for Sustainability with the Forest Products Association of Canada. I have worked within the industry as a forestry engineer for 23 years now.
You bring up a very important issue. I believe that generally speaking, in Quebec and in Canada, one of the important things that must be recognized is the fact that the forest is a public good, which is very different from the situation of our neighbours to the south. Forestry is a science that is not always exact. Forestry has evolved as the values and needs of society have evolved.
When my ancestor came from France in 1668 as a lumber merchant, his values were very different from those of my children, in our world of today, and this evolution will continue in the future. People's expectations with regard to the forest have greatly changed, as have the various players. Our knowledge of the forest and of eco-science has evolved tremendously. In the context of my own knowledge of forestry, I believe that there has been a greater evolution over the last ten years than over the course of the 20 previous years. We must recognize that many things have changed. We have made many improvements, but there is still so much to learn.
Third party certification, through which there is a recognition of all of the different values that forests offer, commercially speaking as well as in areas such as the ecology and wildlife habitat, and which provides for reconciling all of these values within a sustainable and integrated forest management approach, is one of the major developments of the last few years.
My answer is perhaps long-winded, but if you are looking for a short answer, I would say that yes, we have changed, but we are not perfect. We will continue to change as the values of society and our knowledge of the forest environment change. I nevertheless believe that we have made good progress and that, if we compare ourselves to other countries throughout the world, we are one of the leaders in the field.