The Quebec Forest Industry Council serves as the voice of the forestry sector in Quebec. We represent the pulp and paper and sawmill industries. You just heard from one of our members, Chantiers Chibougamau. We're proud of this company.
We want to thank the committee for giving us the opportunity to speak today.
This summer, Prime Minister Carney announced $700 million in assistance. This led us to believe that the government immediately recognized the economic value of our industry in terms of employment, economic benefits, the trade balance—an often overlooked factor—and the fight against climate change. We would also like to acknowledge the work of the Business Development Bank of Canada. In just a few weeks, it managed to turn the announcement into a fully implemented program.
With this in mind, we in Quebec find it hard to understand the federal government's strategy. It overlooks the forestry sector in its negotiations and fails to consider the sector as valuable as the aluminum or steel industries. At least, that's our impression.
For example, a softwood lumber mill in Canada or Quebec that exports to the American market must currently pay a tax that amounts to 30% more than it paid last June, even though prices have increased by only 5%. The additional tax has risen from 14% to 45%. The industry is currently absorbing over 80% of this tax. This places a significant strain on sawmills, as you can imagine, but also on the entire forestry industry. As we heard earlier, the sawmill industry is the gateway to fibre.
These challenges could lead to the temporary or permanent closure of sawmills. This could force pulp and paper mills to shut down owing to a lack of supplies. This could create a vicious cycle, leading to the closure of even more sawmills. We're in a precarious situation. As Mr. Verreault said, it's a perfect storm that will lead to job losses and devitalization.
Prime Minister Carney's announcement also included a plan to build over 500,000 homes per year in Canada. We fully support this plan, of course. Although the goal of increasing production from 250,000 homes per year to 500,000 homes per year is quite ambitious, it would allow Canada to maintain a volume of around 2 to 2.5 billion board feet. Compared to the 10 to 12 billion board feet currently exported to the United States, this may seem small. However, the United States absolutely needs our wood and this volume is not insignificant. We must boost our efforts to achieve this goal as quickly as possible.
For the fourth time in 40 years, the softwood lumber industry is facing free trade negotiations between Canada and the United States, or among Canada, the United States and Mexico. This follows similar negotiations in 1989, 1993 and 2020. For the fourth time, it seems impossible to include softwood lumber in the trade agreement. We're asking the Government of Canada to show that it sees the forestry sector in the same light as other key sectors, such as aluminum and steel. We want it to succeed where every other government has failed in the past, by including softwood lumber in the next version of the Canada‑United States‑Mexico agreement, under conditions acceptable to all parties.
Thank you.