Natural Resources Committee on Nov. 23rd, 2020

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair.

I know there is no such thing as a friendly amendment, but I am wondering if we could maybe just quickly chat about making sure that GAC does maybe come out before the minister appears. I think, with the nature of the request, that would make sense.

I don't want to drown us in too much debate, but to get back to asking questions of the witnesses. Nonetheless, I am wondering if that is something we can agree upon before we ask for consent for this motion.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

I would suggest that the minister needs to appear. As always happens at committee, we hear officials, but we really want to hear from the minister. The minister is the key person at the top of the ministry who needs to answer the question. Frankly, the WTO question really should be answered by the minister.

That's why I don't believe an amendment is necessary.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Through you, Mr. Chair, I don't think I was suggesting that.

Bob, I was asking, should we have the folks from GAC appear in addition?

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

I certainly don't have a problem with having them in addition. I know that with the timeline we have, we'll soon be running out of meetings, so that would be what the chair would have to answer. I wouldn't, in any way, want to replace other, already scheduled witnesses, or the minister in place of government officials. If it's understood that the minister will come and GAC too, I don't have a problem with that, but that isn't the essence of the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Mr. Sidhu, I see your hand is raised now.

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

To my colleagues, Mr. Zimmer and Mr. May, I think it's good to hear that technical aspect of things from the officials as well. Yes, the minister is responsible, but we also want to hear from GAC about the technical knowledge, so I think it's important that we also hear from them.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Again, I don't have a problem with that if you want them as an adjunct. It's typical of a meeting when the minister appears for that minister to be here for the first hour and the ministry officials for the second hour, or that in our two-hour slot that we have now, they appear all together on the same panel. That would work for me just fine, but again, it would not be in place of the minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Mr. Zimmer, it sounds like, to the extent there is any disagreement here, there's not much. Rather than eating up more of our time—

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Chair, before I vote on any motion, I prefer at least to have the text in French.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Yes, we have it, and we will send it out immediately.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you. That is important.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

This is a notice of motion, too, so we don't need to vote on it immediately. If we want to have that for consideration of the committee, that's fine.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

That's what I was going to suggest. I think we have a consensus brewing here, so why don't we move on and deal with it that way.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

I would hope, based on the fact that my motion took about 20 seconds to read, that it would be all of the time that was taken away from my turn. The debate certainly wasn't of my doing.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

I'm not going to argue that point with you.

I think people are entitled to respond, for clarification, when you introduce a motion.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Just not at the cost of my time with our witnesses, though, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Well, that's arguable. I'm going to give you some latitude here, Mr. Zimmer, because we have time today.

Why don't you move on? I'll give you a fair amount of time.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Thank you.

I have a question for Mr. Fehr. Thank you, Brian, again, for coming.

We've met before, and he's doing some great things.

I guess what I've heard you talk about is carbon sinks. I've heard you talk about opportunity in B.C. and using fibre for new purposes that provide an opportunity for British Columbians and for work, not to mention forestry, which grows a whole bunch of trees in British Columbia on a regular basis and has a really great story for the environment. Sometimes we don't hear about the positives about forestry. We often hear about what you have mentioned, where it seems like every group wants to shut you down at every turn.

You still chose to be in B.C., and I know you still have a lot of your business in British Columbia. You mentioned getting jobs for rural British Columbians. Can you just speak about why you're in B.C.? I have a question to ask you after that, too, about Peak. Why are you in B.C.?

[Brian Fehr]

I was born and raised in Vanderhoof, British Columbia, which is in northern B.C. by Prince George. I was born and raised in the forest industry. I love British Columbia. I love Canada. I've worked in America a lot in my life, and it's sure nice to be home.

I find a lot of trees in British Columbia that need to be used properly. I see a big opportunity in biofuel and bioenergy.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Thanks for that, Brian. I'm from here, too, born and raised.

I want you to talk about the really great opportunity that's in Fort Nelson. I've been the MP for Fort Nelson ever since I started—almost 10 years. We've seen that mill closed ever since I've been there. Can you speak about Peak and the opportunity?

I know how really quiet Fort Nelson is. Fort Nelson used to be a hub of natural gas production, but it was really shut in by some of the regulations, some of the opportunities lost. Can you speak about Peak Renewables? You spoke about what you're doing in Fort Nelson. Just elaborate on what's going on up there.

[Brian Fehr]

Last week, we bought a 550,000 cubic metre licence from Canfor. It has gone into what British Columbia calls Bill 22, where the government decides whether the transfer of quota is okay. We've signed a memorandum of understanding with the Fort Nelson First Nation.

We bought the asset that was the old OSB plant and the old plywood plant from Canfor. We are going to build the largest pellet plant in Canada, which we call “bioenergy 101”. We have other sites in Cranbrook, Vavenby, Mackenzie and Chetwynd. All are brownfield assets that we look forward to developing further along into what I would call the higher end of the bioenergy sector.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

I have one more question, Brian.

Again, with regard to the opportunity that's before us, we've seen the WTO ruling. I'm sure that you're following the tariffs that are being applied to Canadian lumber when it goes across the border. What can we do? You obviously know, too, that most of the regulations occur in the province. Federally, we still have trade relationships that we need to work on. What can we do, as federal officials, to make that a better situation? What would you prescribe that we do to make international trade, especially in lumber and our forestry sector, better?

[Brian Fehr]

We are a very, very intelligent group of people in Canada, with a huge resource base that is underutilized in the world, to my mind. I have a work visa in the United States. I'm actually sitting in Whitefish, Montana, this morning for this phone call because I have cross-laminated timber plant here. I see all kinds of ways that we could help, Bob. It would take way too long on this phone call, but certainly there's more opportunity than what we see happening.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Yes, thanks, Brian. I know that we're all trying to get that softwood lumber agreement done. We saw what a change it made back in 2006. We had it extended when we were in government, and we are trying to have that happen again. We're not sure where it is.

Again, you heard from my questions early on that we want to hear from the minister what's going on there. There's been an appeal filed by the Americans, too, after our successful case.

Do you have any last words, Brian, before my time is up?

[Brian Fehr]

Yes. I really, really appreciate the call. I appreciate listening to everybody.

I think Ken Kalesnikoff has a great company in British Columbia. He is a great leader for all of us to follow. He's right about the softwood lumber agreement and CLT. I certainly understand his point.

I'm looking forward to working more with the standing committee.