Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, welcome to the natural resources committee. We appreciate your input to us today.
In particular, Minister, being from a forest industry riding—a big one in this country—I appreciate the assistance the government has given to the forest industry, both from a softwood lumber point of view, and pulp and paper, with many of the short-term programs the government has introduced to help the industry through these very difficult times we have faced over the last three or four years, and then of course through the economic action plan, the few billions of dollars that have gone into the forest industry.
Madame Brunelle talked about the pulp and paper industry, the billion dollars, the green transformation program, which was a tremendous help. I have pulp mills in my riding that are right now building infrastructure to support green energy transformation in their operations. They have expressed appreciation to me, to pass on to you and our government, on how much they appreciate our government stepping up to the table to help in green energy, but also the assistance given through the work share program and the EI programs we've extended so they can hang onto their skilled employees.
Now I'm happy to say, as you know, there's a light shining a bit brighter on the horizon for the forest industry. The pulp market is enjoying some nice pricing these days, and the softwood lumber market is creeping up. I think the latest count is getting somewhere close to $290 per thousand. It's really appreciated. It's going higher, of course.
Minister, looking at the long-term picture, we need to ensure that the government is assisting to help secure the sustainability and the competitiveness in the forest industry in the future. One of those things, Minister, is the promotion of our products abroad. There have been new emerging markets, particularly China, and now we're looking at India, at the use of wood in construction. We know the China market for softwood is going to double this year, to somewhere in the neighbourhood of 3 billion board feet, which is just unheard of, but it's a huge asset. The government has put aside a lot of money for the promotion and marketing of our products overseas in softwood lumber.
Could you perhaps touch on that to give us assurance that the government's sights are still set on helping the emerging markets and our competitiveness abroad?