Thank you to the witnesses.
I also want to commend Minister Hodgson for allowing this process to take place at a very critical time.
Ken, I live in British Columbia. I come from Williams Lake, in the neighbourhood of 100 Mile House. At one time, those communities were 80% dependent on forestry. Now half of that business has gone.
The biggest problem was with the U.S. market. We think we have a problem right now, over the last two years, but the forest community has been fighting those problems for the last 30 years. We challenge them and we win in court, but a few years later, the U.S. goes back into it. What can we do?
I don't think we can really get away from U.S. markets 100%. The U.S. will continue to be a major part of our economy. Yes, we can build in Canada, but we don't have enough capacity to use the forests that we have in Canada.
I'd like to hear from Ken and the other gentleman their views on those issues.