Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm very surprised that the opposition voted down the amendment, for a couple of reasons. Number one, as Mr. Boshcoff pointed out, we came out of our forestry study with a consensus report, and we talked about some of the things that are going to be needed in the forest industry. I'm very surprised that people didn't pick up on the impact this will have on rural Canada and on the forest industries, because when you look at the major input costs in the forest industry, you're talking about the person who is going out there with their power saw, with their fuel. You're talking about the person who's taking a bunch of folks out in their four-wheel-drive, who's going to have to buy fuel. You're talking about the folks who are running the skidders, who are going to have to buy fuel. There are all of these impacts.
And while I'll grant you that some of the mills have converted to using biomass, once the costs start working their way back into the food chain or to the inputs that are coming into those mills, a carbon tax on the fuel is going to grind these people right to a halt.
I'm just amazed to be hearing some of the statements I'm hearing, especially when other countries now are very much debating how positive these carbon taxes are—as is rural B.C., as well.
Mr. Chair, I'm very surprised, considering the unanimous report we had on the forest industry, in which we wanted to make 23 recommendations to improve the industry, and now here we are looking to go away from a recommendation that would help, versus absolutely destroying the industry.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.