Evidence of meeting #12 for Natural Resources in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A video is available from Parliament.
Vice-Chair, Canadian Forest Owners
I don't have enough knowledge on the matter to answer that question.
However, I think that the federal government has a role to play in supporting forest owners and producers, particularly in terms of taxation.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Terry Duguid
Thank you, Mr. Martel.
I'm going to our last questioner, Mr. Hogan, for five minutes.
Liberal
Corey Hogan Liberal Calgary Confederation, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It is a pleasure to see all of our witnesses again. This is deep and broad forestry knowledge in front of us. This committee and all Canadians should be grateful for it.
The softwood dispute is both long-standing and, of course, now rapidly moving. Government programs will need to adapt. I want to take a moment here to say that we welcome written feedback as a committee, of course, but because of the speed at which it's moving, I hope you are, in parallel, going to reach out to NRCan or my office. We will continue to evolve programs and the levels of support.
The United States is the world's largest economy. Our softwood lumber meets a demand the U.S. can't fill. We've heard that from many witnesses. The current situation of unjustified tariffs and duties needs to be resolved. There's absolutely no question. It hurts us, and, as Mr. Krips noted, it also hurts U.S. consumers. We can't replace their demand. They can't replace our supply, not on any sensible time frame.
Their leverage is reduced and ours increased with every per cent that we diversify markets, which includes new export markets and also the domestic markets that Mr. Danko was starting to talk about. On that point, I have a few questions.
One of the government's priorities outlined in the budget is to make the Government of Canada a bigger consumer, to “prioritise projects that use Canadian lumber”. There are commitments “to prioritise Canadian materials [and] require companies contracting with the federal government to source Canadian lumber.”
As we're doing this, I'm curious as to what the federal government needs to keep in mind for that to be successful. It's obviously an ecosystem. Obviously, we have to think in terms of clusters and access to those homebuilding markets. Maybe we'll start with Mr. Krips. Any thoughts you have on that would be greatly appreciated by this committee.
Co-Chair, Alberta Softwood Lumber Trade Council
Thank you very much, Parliamentary Secretary Hogan. It's great to see you.
One thing we really would love support from the government for is regulatory streamlining. There are a number of federal pieces of legislation—whether it's the Fisheries Act, the Species at Risk Act or the pulp and paper effluent regulations—that actually, in our view and in the broadly held view across the country, dive into provincial jurisdiction where there's actually already really strong regulatory oversight.
It's not uncommon to see a fisheries official alongside a provincial environment official looking at a culvert, one saying yes and one saying no. We have really strong regulatory frameworks in the provincial domain. We would certainly ask the federal government to streamline as much as possible its regulatory oversight, so that it showcases harmony with the provincial regulatory framework and allows the provinces to have that oversight, which they constitutionally do.
Doing that would certainly have a huge impact on more access to fibre and, therefore, more use of fibre, not only domestically but also—eventually, when we get to a softwood lumber agreement—through diversification into other markets.
Liberal
Corey Hogan Liberal Calgary Confederation, AB
As Albertans, we can both appreciate the need for clear jurisdictional lines here. Actually, both of us, working in the Alberta government, have lived that.
Access to economic fibre is one condition for that Build Canada Homes program to be successful. In terms of how we construct it and how we might put forward that directive and incentive to use Canadian lumber, are there things we need to think about in terms of markets and products? Are there opportunities you see, either in Alberta or across Canada, that would allow us to build faster and build more in order to meet that commitment, both to the forestry sector and to all Canadians, to build more homes?
Co-Chair, Alberta Softwood Lumber Trade Council
I think we should be looking at innovative ways to increase the use of our products. Maybe it's modular home building. Maybe it's looking at mass timber. I know that mass timber is niche, but it's a growing, important niche that actually can consume a lot more of our product. Those are a couple of areas that I certainly think we should look at in terms of streamlining.
Liberal
Corey Hogan Liberal Calgary Confederation, AB
I want to broaden the question about buying Canadian to the rest of the cast we have here.
Does anybody want to take a grab at it? Mr. Dunn?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Ontario Forest Industries Association
I'll bring it back to the energy side.
In the GTA, we import about 6 billion dollars' worth of U.S. natural gas every year, largely to heat homes, institutional buildings and industry. There is a huge opportunity to decarbonize that sector using syngas created by Ontario sustainable forest biomass.
The homebuilding side is always very important, particularly for our lumber producers, but I don't want anyone to forget about the opportunities in the energy space.
Liberal
Corey Hogan Liberal Calgary Confederation, AB
You raise an interesting point about the ecosystem. Building Canadian homes uses dimensional lumber, and modular wood uses some of the sawdust and other offtake, but we do need to think about the overall environment to have an economical forestry sector.
Do you have any thoughts on that as it might pertain to Build Canada Homes?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Ontario Forest Industries Association
There is a sector strategy in place in Ontario to accomplish all that, but market access for the lumber producers and the consolidation of the pulp and paper sector are the two biggest barriers to achieving that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Terry Duguid
Colleagues, that brings our second panel to a close. Let me thank our witnesses. I'll echo your remarks, Mr. Hogan: Witnesses, you have been a very rich source of knowledge and, I would say, wisdom, and I know we've really benefited from having you share your realities with us.
I would recommend that if you want to amplify or expand on some of the points you made today, please submit a brief. We would welcome that and consider it in our recommendations for the report that we are required to do for Parliament.
Colleagues, next week, three committee members are travelling to Saguenay and Sudbury in relation to the critical minerals study. We hope to bring back some insight into what is happening on the ground for the committee's report. I know that closer friendships will result from that travel, and you're going to have a lot of fun together.
Safe travels. We know you're going to bring back a lot of insights and important information that we're going to consider in our critical minerals study.
With that, colleagues, we are adjourned.
