Thanks, Jeff, and again, thanks to the committee.
We have a package here. We'll have more to circulate. I think some of you have it in your hands now, but we will hand it out after the presentation.
I'm reeve of the Township of James and Elk Lake. I've been reeve for 26 years. It's been a long time. I've been through a number of issues in that timeframe provincially—significant parks issues, parks expansions, native land caution over an area of about 4,000 square miles. It was the only one in the province of Ontario that stymied development for almost 20 years in our area, from 1973 on into the nineties. Through that timeframe, the only thing that was allowed to take place in that area was forestry. So we have been an advocate for the forest industry for a long time, as far as the community goes.
The Township of James and Elk Lake is a small community in northeastern Ontario, in Temiskaming region, between North Bay and Timmins, with a population of approximately 470 people. The Town of Elk Lake is home to Elk Lake Planing Mill, a medium-sized lumber producer and a major employer, with a long history and deep family roots in the region. The Grant Forest Products oriented strandboard mill is located 45 kilometres from Elk Lake in the Town of Englehart, and it shares a long family commitment to the region. Together the two mills consume over 1.7 million cubic metres annually and contribute directly or indirectly to the economies of over 30 communities in our region.
The forest industry and communities like ours need each other. Our family is a fourth-generation logging contractor. That's what we do. We are the people the forest industry is talking about when they indicate that we are the lifeblood of hundreds of communities across the country. As such, we are in an extremely vulnerable position right now as the industry navigates through this perfect storm. Despite the vulnerability, we believe that we are in a position to assist the industry in its efforts to not only survive in the storm, but to emerge from it stronger than it ever has been. We've always been of a cyclical nature in the forest industry, and we are probably in one of the longer lows that we're going to be in, but we know there is a light at the end of the tunnel and we will move ahead.
The following comments represent recommendations and observations that we have evolved over several decades of proactive, progressive, and sometimes aggressive involvement in the forestry sector. The first one is don't give up. The forest industry is not dead, nor is it dying. It's in a cycle. So what can we do through those cycles? That's going to judge the merit of why we're here today.
Although there are applicable comparisons to the events in the east coast fishery with respect to the impacts on communities, Canada has a healthy forest resource and world markets for forest products continue to grow. The future is bright, but the present is abysmal.
The industry is in a state of transition, and there will be more pain, as the industry continues to consolidate, before this transition process is complete. Although we recognize that some communities will be more directly affected than others, we believe that governments need to allow this rationalization to occur in order for the sector as a whole to survive. They also need to be prepared to assist these communities directly following closures or shutdowns of mills.
We support training initiatives. However, retraining indicates an assumption that qualified, skilled forestry workers need to move out of the sector and on to something else. That is not the case. There was a big push in the mining sector back a number of years ago when the mining was in a downturn that we have to retrain. And right now there's a shortage of miners right across the nation. We can't get enough miners. So retraining is not the answer. Training to upgrade skills, that is one thing, but to retrain to get them into another sector, that's not the sole answer here.
When the industry emerges from this sectoral transformation, there will be need for trained workers at all levels. In the interim, it is critical that the government support training programs that will lead to the development of creative, qualified individuals who can play important roles in the re-establishment of Canada as the global leader in forest products.
On security of the wood supply, in order for the forest industry to emerge as a competitive sector and attract investment, it is critical that a predictable and consistent supply of affordable timber is available. Although it may be tempting for policy-makers and politicians to create new parks and policy during a period of time when the industry is not utilizing these forests for fibre, this temptation must be strongly resisted. In conversations with community leaders and forest managers in northern California recently, where the industry was devastated by a number of coincidental factors in the early nineties, it was estimated that creation of parks replaced less than 17% of the jobs associated with the forest industry. A large number of those were seasonal. Furthermore, these jobs tend to be lower paying and require less training.
The third point is that the model forest program, the forest communities program, and the community forest program are initiatives that were set up. The model forest and the forest communities programs are federal; the community forest was set up by the province back in 1992.
Over the past 16 years, the Township of James has had the opportunity to participate in the provincial community forest program and has submitted proposals to both the model forest program and the forest communities program of last year.
The most recent initiative, the forest communities program, sought to address the challenges to resource-based communities brought about by the crisis in the forestry sector. Based on a stated budget of $4 million annually shared among 11 projects, this initiative needs to be expanded to make a meaningful contribution, given the magnitude of the challenges we've got.
Despite our disappointment at not being selected for this program, the Township of James has continued to work with the forest industry in looking for opportunities for economic diversification and industrial survival through this critical period. These endeavours have included the examination of opportunities for the production of bioenergy and value-added products. We are also working with educators to enhance resource-oriented programs and have initiated a relationship with the community of Hayfork, California, to learn from its experiences from the restructuring of the forest industry there.
We have two other points, which I'll let Jeff speak to.