Natural Resources Committee on Dec. 1st, 2025

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I assume that you've applied to the federal government for financial assistance in the past, either to revamp your production line, retool or develop new markets. Have any programs previously been used to answer requests that you submitted to the federal government?

[Susan Yurkovich]

I think the government has responded. They've created a loan program, which was announced a couple of weeks ago, one through BDC and a larger one, so that's available. Of course, we have been very focused on—

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I want to emphasize the words “in the past”.

Before the Business Development Bank of Canada's liquidity program was announced, did you have any access to federal financial support programs for the forestry industry to develop new technologies or new markets?

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Give a quick answer, please.

[Susan Yurkovich]

Yes, there have been programs for market diversification. There's IFIT to help with the pulp and paper industry. There have been programs available.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

That brings our first round of questions to a close.

We're going to go on to the second round.

Mr. Martel, you have the floor.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Yurkovich, I'd like to talk about a matter that my colleague just raised. You recommended fast-tracking tax refunds. I'm curious: How long does it take to get a refund?

[Susan Yurkovich]

That's a question I cannot answer. I could get that answer to you, sir, but I know that we have made several inquiries and have been told there are a number of reviews going on related to another program, so we won't have access to those until that review is complete. We have asked, and we've already sent a letter to Minister Hodgson with respect to that.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you.

Mr. Hughes, as everyone knows, the softwood lumber industry has gone through some very hard times in recent years in the absence of a new agreement. To what extent has this situation affected your activities and the activities of your colleagues?

[Scott Hughes]

What recently happened is that, for my customer base, which is other manufacturers that are shipping products to the United States or the rest of the world, their orders have dropped significantly—about an 80% drop. With other companies, sometimes it's more or sometimes it's less, but the biggest impact is that the American customers are not buying our products. My products that are going to the other manufacturers are not being used.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

You talked about bureaucracy. Can you give me some concrete examples of bureaucratic complications?

[Scott Hughes]

What do you mean by bureaucracy?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what's being said on the interpretation.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

I'm talking about the fact that to qualify for funding or subsidies, your industry has to go through a very long process and meet various criteria.

[Scott Hughes]

From what I understand here, you're asking about the funding of subsidies. Is that correct? I can't quite understand what's being said on the—

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Yes.

[Scott Hughes]

We have not really asked for subsidies to help our industry. The last subsidy we got was to upgrade our lighting system to a more energy-efficient thing, but most of the equipment we buy is always self-financed. We don't get any subsidies or rebates from the government for it, if that's what you're asking.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Ms. Yurkovich, you said that the COVID‑19 period was a good time for the forestry industry. Can you tell me why it was a good time? I know that there weren't any tariffs back then.

[Susan Yurkovich]

COVID wasn't a good time for any of us, from a global perspective, in terms of life or business, but what it did was constrain supply chains and, of course, everybody went home and started to do projects like redoing their deck, finishing their basement or creating space for themselves to work from home. At that time, prices shot up to a level we had never seen before. Lumber prices went up to $1,600 per thousand board feet, which was just extraordinary. I don't expect we will see that ever again—hopefully not in my lifetime.

It went very far up, and now it has come back down very significantly. Obviously, prices running up meant we had very good markets for a period of 18 to 24 months, and then, of course, it fell.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Hughes, a number of companies in the sector have mentioned that the combination of tariffs and certain charges, like the carbon tax applied to industries, made it very difficult to compete. Can you explain how these cumulative costs affect your investment decisions and your competitiveness?

[Scott Hughes]

The carbon taxes that have been put into place have driven up the costs of lumber and shipping. It's very hard to break down what the actual costs are. I will have to look into that a little bit more and get back to you later.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Thank you both.

We're going to go on to Mr. Guay for five minutes.

[Claude Guay, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here.

Mr. Cape, I want to tell you that we've heard you, and I hope it's going to be in our recommendations to pay you through the building and factory.... You're not the first to mention that.

One question I have for you—and after that, for Ms. Yurkovich—is this: The government, in budget 2025, announced what we call the superdeduction, to be able to write off additional tooling for productivity and new equipment in the first year. Is this something you're taking advantage of, and if not, why not?

[Geoff Cape]

Yes, it's very important. The capital investments we need to make as a company are on the order of $20 million for equipment and probably the same again in the factory building and infrastructure, so the opportunity to write that down quickly is a big advantage.

[Claude Guay, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, QC]

Ms. Yurkovich.

[Susan Yurkovich]

We would take advantage of anything that supported our capital program and capital investment.