First of all, thank you for the question.
Of course, I do miss you and life on Parliament Hill, but I have been in my new position for a month and a half, and I am still learning every day.
It is important to remember that in order to be able to do secondary processing, you have to make sure that you can harvest the wood first, as I was saying earlier. The important thing is to keep our markets open.
Of course, the future belongs in part to wood processing. There is an organization in Quebec that is related to the Forest Industry Council called Cecobois. The organizations that promote the use of wood in Canada and Quebec are working very hard to develop markets and increase the number of wood buildings. As we were saying earlier, it's important that building codes allow for this, while respecting all security standards. So you need that first processing level.
Secondly, we must continue to work on facilitating access to various markets. For all sorts of geographic reasons, British Columbia is much closer to Asian markets than Quebec. As we heard earlier, the United States is still the most important market for British Columbia, followed by Asia, which is easier to access from British Columbia than from Quebec. We want to continue to work with the industry in British Columbia, as it is essential for us that the forestry sector throughout Canada does well.
And so we need to continue to promote the culture of wood. My colleague was right to say that in educational institutions, in universities, cegeps and high schools, we need more stakeholders from the sector, whether they be architects, engineers, technicians, carpenters or cabinet makers, who can promote the value of wood, so that people are aware of the value added by using wood in construction.
Our governments could highlight the environmental value of the different products. Of course, you can build using steel and cement, and that is a choice that is up to the consumer. However, if the environmental value of the product used in construction were recognized, this would allow the forest industry to sell more wood. I believe this is a promising avenue for the future. The forest is a promising solution for the environment in Canada, and must be seen as such.
At the same time, we must continue to keep our markets open. Our workforce is extremely important, and we have to facilitate the entry of the workers we need in several areas of the country. I know that there is a shortage of labour in your riding, Mrs. Boucher, for forestry enterprises. The same thing applies to the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean region for forestry work in the summer, and when reforestation needs to be done. Who is doing that work at this time? Workers from Africa. We are lucky to have them. We have to open our hearts, our minds and our doors to immigration; it's a necessity. It's not necessarily easy, but a lot of things can be accomplished.
That is my answer, in part.