Mr. Speaker, the member is right. The Canadian government entered into an agreement with the United States called the softwood lumber agreement in which 14.7 billion board feet of lumber would be allowed to cross into the United States free of any fees for the next five years.
Over the last two quarters, the price of Canadian lumber on the U.S. market has skyrocketed. One year ago today the price was about $233 U.S. It is now trading at about $505 U.S.
As a result, many companies have decided to use more of their quotas in the first two quarters than what they would otherwise normally do because of the high price.
Because the government has always maintained that it is concerned about jobs in that very important sector, the minister has put a number of options into the program that will allow for companies that find themselves at the quota wall and unable to ship as of Friday, to make a request to the government and be able to get some quota for future years so that the jobs in those mills will continue.