Let me start by emphasizing that we have to adopt a holistic view of the forest looking at it as a whole which is made up of a number of resources, lumber being only one of them. Many of these resources could be used to support a community. There are millions of dollars worth of untapped resources in the forest, with a potential for future sustainable use. We must not ever forget that.
You have said that we should make a greater use of lumber here in Canada. I built my own house two years ago, and the local lumber that I used was expensive. Certified lumber is not cheap. Tax rebates to encourage the use of local Canadian or certified products would be a popular option. Consumers are ready. People have told me that they would be willing to buy these products, but sometimes the cost can be prohibitive, and a little financial help can go a long way.
Bioenergy is another interesting idea. However, as I said, there is no magic formula that will solve all of our problems. We need to find a number of solutions, and bioenergy is only one of them. It is only one option. We must be careful when we think that we might be able to use waste from the forest industry to generate energy. That is all well and good, but we can't start pillaging the forest and strip it of every last branch to make ethanol or granules, because we must not forget that the waste that is left behind after the trees are harvested does have an environmental role to play. In some areas, removing this waste might not cause any problems; elsewhere, there could be detrimental effects. We need to study this further in order to determine exactly how all of this might work. When it comes to bioenergy, the aim is to make the best use of our resources without going overboard.