Thank you.
Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to this forum. I apologize for not attending in person, but I teach a forest policy class tomorrow morning that I cannot miss.
My background in forest policy is largely focused on economic considerations related to the role of governments and how forests are used and managed. As a student of forest policy who tries to embrace the complexities of potential government roles, I will not be so rash as to suggest in a five-minute brief specific changes to forest policies. Instead, my approach will be to first describe emerging challenges related to the resilience of the forest industry in Canada's forests, and then I will suggest general policy strategies the federal government may wish to consider to help face these challenges.
In Canada, we have the unusual situation of having over 90% public ownership of forests, yet we have private industry largely responsible for harvesting and management, regulated by provincial—