Thank you very much for your response.
Mr. Rielly, you raised two options.
The first option is to include the lumber sector in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA, negotiations so that we can put an end to countervailing duties and customs duties. Everyone wants that, by the way.
The second option is to buy back the duties. We discussed this in committee earlier this week with the representative from Chantiers Chibougamau. There is a proposal circulating in Quebec, and I would like to hear your opinion on it.
For your part, you mentioned buying back all the duties. I agree with you that this is the ideal solution. That said, it is currently estimated that Canadians have paid $12 billion in customs duties, which are sitting in U.S. coffers. That would be a big pill for the government to swallow. The other proposal circulating is for the government to buy back 50% of the customs duties paid to the United States on a monthly basis, going forward.
Do you support this proposal?