Our plants are too small. In the sawmilling field, the average Quebec plant is one-third the size of that in British Columbia. Consequently, our fixed operating costs are much higher, which makes us less internationally competitive. Lastly, in the past seven years, Quebec forest businesses have invested smaller amounts than those reported for amortization and depreciation purposes. Clearly, in the short term, the price of fibre will have to be adequate and take into consideration the size of trees and the size and quality of our fibre relative to those of our competitors.
In Quebec, we must proceed soon with a restructuring of our fee system in order to obtain different prices for high-quality pulp fibre and sawmill-quality fibre. We have to stop saying that we need to consolidate our industry: we have to do it now. It's urgent. We've fallen behind and we are being outdistanced by our competitors. Too many plants are too small.
In Quebec, there's a link between forest and plant called appartenancy. As a result, businesses do not have an opportunity to rationalize their plants, to reduce the number of plants and to ship wood to those that are still operating. We have to accelerate investment in order to offset this delay. As the Fraser Institute showed us two years ago, Quebec's climate is the least conducive to investment. Governments have to take action to correct his problem.
Lastly, before handing over to Mr. Simon, I would like to propose some solutions. One way of assisting the industry would obviously be to help associations like the CIFQ. We are often the last resort for industrial interests in situations such as this, following all the layoffs the industry has undergone. The idea isn't to replace businesses with regard to membership fees, but at least to take charge of certain types of work done by associations such as the Canadian Wood Council, in particular, which ensures that U.S. and Canadian building codes are consistent and that they do not constitute a barrier to trade. One might think, for example, of assistance for research funding. Up to 20% of research funding is provided by companies, which is currently very hard to maintain.
With regard to new air quality regulations, the industry asks that the efforts made in the past 15 years be taken into consideration and that the reference year be 1990 rather than 2006. A large part of our operating costs goes to fuel used in the forest. We think that eliminating part of the fuel tax used to transport wood in the forest, that is to say off-road, could therefore help us. We feel that, with programs like POWA, businesses could retain their young and specialized labour force without hurting older workers.
We're also thinking of support measures for sylvicultural and logging contractors. The average contractor is currently facing investments of $1.2 or $1.3 million, which requires them to make significant outlays. In the present situation, many of these contractors are handing the keys to their businesses over to the banks. There will be a major problem when the recovery occurs.
I could state a few more points, but I don't want to take up too much of Mr. Simon's time. So I'll turn the floor over to him.