Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the minister on her appointment. She says she is very concerned about the forestry industry, and understandably so, and that it should focus more on secondary and tertiary processing.
I have some questions for her regarding the fact that thousands of jobs have been lost—which is nothing new; this has been going on for years.
Why does the government not give businesses any real support? Why does the government not grant loans and loan guarantees, so that businesses can focus more on secondary and tertiary processing? Why does the government not give refundable tax credits to companies that invest in research and development? We know that it takes a long time to recover research and development costs. These are promising solutions. Does the minister intend to show that she has vision and invest in these two projects?