Thank you, Mr. Chair.
To the minister, I have a few comments.
Number one, Mr. Minister, Canada's forestry sector is already leading the way in technology as well as environmental practices. It's staggering for us to be hanging our hopes on China, as Canada has already been in China for over 10 years. We need an answer now, not down the road. We know that agreements take a long period of time. It is shocking for me to sit here and hear that there was much anticipation, that this government knew that the countervailing duties were coming. We all knew that was coming, yet there was no plan for the communities Mr. Harvey mentioned, as well as my communities, indeed the 650 communities that are forestry dependent right across our country.
With that, Mr. Chair, I'd like to read a motion into the record, if I can, please. I'll put forth a motion:
That the Committee invite the designated provincial envoys who represent their respective provinces on the Softwood Lumber file and hear from them their priorities for a new Softwood Lumber Agreement between Canada and the United States; that the Committee, after these initial meetings, then invite the Minister of Natural Resources to present the government’s plan on a new Softwood Lumber Agreement.