Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the natural resources committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
I want to begin by respectfully acknowledging that we're on the traditional territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin nation.
We're honoured to be here to speak with you about the important work that Paper Excellence Group is doing in Canada and about the future of growth and opportunity for Paper Excellence, the Canadian pulp and paper industry and the Canadian economy.
My name is John Williams, I am the non-executive chairman of the Paper Excellence Group. I'm also the president and CEO of Domtar, where I have held that position since January 2009.
I am joined today by my Paper Excellence Group colleagues. With me are Stew Gibson, chief operating officer for Paper Excellence Canada; Jean-François Guillot, chief operating officer at Fibre Excellence; and Lana Wilhelm, director of community and indigenous relations for Paper Excellence Canada. Together, we are the executives and key members of the team that leads Paper Excellence and oversees its operations in the Canadian market.
Mr. Chairman, we have tabled with the committee a letter from our founder and sole shareholder of Paper Excellence, Jackson Wijaya, with sincere apologies for being unable to appear before the committee due to extensive global business commitments. However, he has asked that the senior leadership team be here in his place to address and respond to the issues and questions raised by the committee.
With that, I'll hand it over to Stew Gibson.