Thank you very much for the question.
I too share the concern. One of the more remarkable experiences that I had, both in preconsultation and since then, was the close working relationship with Quebec and with the other provinces in terms of recognizing the forest industry's need for help and aid.
First and foremost, the softwood lumber agreement is extremely important to the industry. They've told us loud and clear that it must be respected and that we can't put it at risk. We start from that premise of abiding by the softwood lumber agreement.
As I indicated in my remarks, we did strike a Canada-Quebec forestry task team. They're going to be looking at priorities for early action. One of them is credit and finance, and specifically what can happen in terms of provision of aid and help to the industry within the softwood lumber agreement.
However, it must be recognized, as I also mentioned, that the forest industry does actually access the credit facilities of the Government of Canada through EDC. In fact, it is remarkable that there's a relationship with 534 forestry companies, about 80% of the total forestry companies in Canada, to the tune of approximately $14 billion, so supporting EDC and BDC and increasing their availability to help countries and industries and sectors is beneficial to the forestry sector as well.
More important is the fact that this task team will be focusing on credit and finance as they apply to Canada-Quebec forestry issues. We'll be taking a look at all options and seeing what can be done. We have asked that officials report on the progress of the team by May 15, 2009.