Okay, I'll submit it right after the end of the committee meeting.
I will explain how this proposal got started, which is a bit like a bottle thrown into the sea. As Mr. Cloutier, who runs Unifor, knows, four of our mills have teams, workers who are represented by Unifor. In 2025, in the industrial sector, we've come a long way from the caricature of a business leader and a union leader fighting like cats and dogs. We're united in the success of our operations and the success of our business. I read that Mr. Cloutier was concerned about the situation and we talked about it a few days later. I told him that, in an ideal world, yes, there would be a complete buyout of timber rights, but I told him what I was explaining to Mr. Malette a few moments ago. Since Mr. Cloutier saw the benefits of my idea, he took the bull by the horns with the strength of a central labour body to firmly shove that bottle into the sea, which led us to talk to you about it today. That's where the idea came from. There's very fluid co-operation between the union leader, Daniel Cloutier, and our organization.
Before I talk about the benefits, I'd like to say a few words about the loan guarantee program that was announced. Don't get me wrong: We're not criticizing this initiative and we recognize its merit. However, it's not an initiative that we'll use, because it doesn't meet our needs. Our company is healthy and doing well. We're not short of access to credit. Basically, our problem is that our revenue is being diverted. It's not a lack of access to credit. That's why, unfortunately, we have to force ourselves to temporarily close a mill, such as our mill in Témiscamingue-Béarn. We must address a very different need or issue. Yes, the program has merit, and we recognize the agile rollout. So we have no criticism of that, but it's not a tool that would enable us to keep the mills operational, like buying out the timber rights would.
What's the benefit of buying out the rights? The buyout program allows the mills to maintain day-to-day production activities and thus enables them to contribute to the tax system. It helps people keep their jobs and maintain their purchasing power, while avoiding the need for employment insurance. It helps protect the industrial structure and the thousands of subcontractors in an ecosystem that's been extremely weakened by the perfect storm, with a view to recovery. I want to point out that there will be a recovery, if not an increase in demand from the 2021-22 threshold, where there was a shortage. There are fewer raw materials in British Columbia because of an insect infestation, and in Quebec because of the 2023 wildfires. If we want to protect the ability to manufacture homes with our renewable materials, equip resistance in this context of a trade dispute that can get bogged down, and above all intervene at no cost based on the market with a tool offered by the U.S. financial community, a rights buyout initiative will make it possible to check all those boxes.