Natural Resources Committee on Nov. 27th, 2025

[Michel Lessard]

The pain is pretty big, because, again, people are losing their jobs. That's an issue. We are in the north of Ontario, in small towns, where it's sometimes difficult to attract and retain people. We want to be able to continue to operate, maintain these guys in operations, get employment and not necessarily leave our facility to go and work in mining or go back to the Toronto area.

It is particularly sensitive, yes, with the workers. That's why we are paying a lot of attention to them. It's to be able to retain them and keep them at work.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

These people are suffering. If they hear stories of people who don't care and joke about not cutting down trees and supplying the industry with unlimited loans and subsidies, how would they take that?

[Michel Lessard]

Do you mean the subsidies and things like that?

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Instead of allowing you to cut down trees.

[Michel Lessard]

They're allowed to cut trees.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

I know.

[Michel Lessard]

Yes.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

That's how ridiculous the Liberal policies are sometimes.

[Michel Lessard]

People are hoping to get some financial support from the government. They know it's tough for our company and the entire industry. They want to keep their employment. We have big support from the employees, the mayors and the chamber of commerce, etc., to be able to maintain....

They see all the opportunities we could get for them as good news, even if it's a decreased settlement or a decrease in the tariffs. If we could have that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Thank you.

[Michel Lessard]

Let's say an increase in support.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Thank you.

Mr. McKinnon, you have three minutes or less.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Tochor seems to have the misguided fantasy that we don't like cutting down trees. We absolutely support the forest industry. We absolutely support the harvesting of the resources there.

I'd like to carry on. There's a lot of pressure on us to complete an agreement with the United States at this point. As you pointed out, it's an inopportune time, considering that they don't seem to want an agreement.

What do you think an agreement should look like? What would be advantageous to your industry?

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Be very quick, Mr. Lessard.

[Michel Lessard]

I'm going to be quick on that.

We already submitted something to the federal government about what we, as the forest industry in Canada, think the settlement could be. I'm not going to go into the details, but we already provided this information.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Thank you.

We'll wrap up with Monsieur Simard.

You have a minute and a half.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I will be very quick.

Mr. Lessard, you raised something very important earlier, namely the government’s reluctance to support the forestry sector. I’ve been approached by many people who told me that, when you’re in primary processing, have a project and contact Economic Development Canada, you’re immediately referred to Global Affairs Canada; and there, you’re told that you can’t receive financial support because it risks going against trade agreements.

It’s good to point that out, as it’s an element that should be corrected. I hope this will be part of the report. It’s an element that should be corrected, because when the crisis is over, if we want to transform the forestry sector and give it access to programs, we’ll need to be more proactive.

I would like to hear your comments on this. Have you had access to any federal government programs?

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Give a quick answer, please.

[Michel Lessard]

We’ve made requests and we’re waiting to receive the necessary funds. We’ve applied for some loans from the Business Development Bank of Canada, the BDC.

That said, to be honest with you, this is the first time a government has given the forestry industry a chance and said it will help it directly. This is the first time I’ve seen this. So it’s good news.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Monsieur Lessard, thank you so much for your insights and your testimony. You got a good working over from all of the committee members as our only witness in this portion. We really appreciate your testimony. As we say to every witness, if you would like to submit a brief with specific recommendations, we'd welcome it.

Colleagues, with that, we are adjourned.