Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses for their presentations and the work they are doing.
We heard witnesses Rick Jeffery and Eric Karsh say that Canada was a global leader in forest industry management. So I really want to thank Resolute Forest Products for its work.
The forest industry has contributed about $23 billion to the national GDP and directly funded some 211,000 jobs across the country.
I want to begin by thanking you very much for the investment you recently made, as announced in Thunder Bay. Your company invested $3.5 million in a $21-million project.
I would like to know what your contribution to that investment is. I would also like to know something else about research and development and innovation, areas in which our government has gotten very involved. I know the people from Domtar said that staff from Natural Resources Canada and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, NSERC, were working closely with them in that area.
Could you share your recommendations on this matter? What could the federal government do to continue to improve and develop innovation and investments in research and development? Could this help you increase the number of Canadian jobs?