Mr. Speaker, my Bloc Québécois colleagues who have risen on this opposition day have talked about the serious problems plaguing Quebec's forestry industry. I would like to join them in making this House aware of the forestry sector's problems, long neglected by the federal government. Today's Bloc Québécois motion points to the inadequacy of funding allocated in the latest budget to an industry that has been in crisis for several years and that, if left to its own devices, will suffer even more because of the current economic situation. That is why, in our motion, we have denounced the absence of specific measures to improve things for the forestry industry, measures such as bonuses, loan guarantees and refundable tax credits for research and development. We also strongly encourage the use of lumber in the construction and renovation of federal public buildings, along with new measures to support the production of energy and ethanol from forestry waste.
Despite the government's excuses to cover up its lack of political will, all of these measures are legitimate and would not violate the international softwood lumber agreements that bind us. My colleagues have already gone into great detail about these aspects of our motion. I would like to focus on what is really going on with private woodlot producers in Quebec. I would like to talk about what is happening to 130,000 owners, 10,000 of which are located in the lower St. Lawrence region, where 50% of the woodlots are private. That is an indication of how important their activities are to local and regional development in my region.
Over the past few years, private woodlot owners in Quebec have seen their situation get worse. They have been hit hard by the forestry crisis and have felt the impact of permanent and temporary plant closures, tighter markets for their wood, and sharply declining prices. Such are the consequences of an ongoing crisis that they are not equipped to deal with because of a lack of government support. In its most recent budget, the federal government once again ignored the needs of private woodlot owners in Quebec.
Richard Savard, who has responsibility for forestry in the regional conference of elected officials in the Bas-St-Laurent area, referred to the latest federal budget as a missed opportunity. In addition to being woefully inadequate and poorly targeted, federal assistance for the forestry industry in no way meets the needs of private woodlot owners. Yet private woodlots account for 29,000 direct jobs in Quebec.
In my region, Bas-St-Laurent, activities associated with private forest management and wood marketing create some 2,000 forest and factory jobs. In addition, the economic spinoffs from private woodlots are vital to our rural communities. It is crucial that the situation of private woodlot owners improve, because the survival of these communities depends on it.
In Bas-St-Laurent, the warden of the Témiscouata RCM, Serge Fortin, was outraged at Mr. Flaherty's insensitivity. According to the warden, because the minister is unaware of the impact that the forestry crisis is having on some regions, he does not appreciate that the loss of 500 jobs in our region is the equivalent of a loss of 10,000 jobs in Montreal. We have to bear in mind that, according to Department of Natural Resources data, 1,000 direct jobs have been lost in the forestry sector in Bas-St-Laurent since April 1, 2005. This is alarming.
Faced with the government's inaction, private woodlot owners are not just standing idle; they are doing everything they can to develop the full potential of their forest heritage. This means that, in addition to being undeniably important to rural communities, private forests can play an important environmental role when managed sustainably. They can help preserve wildlife habitat and ecological diversity, protect air and water quality, store carbon and reduce soil and shoreline erosion. In fact, thanks to the management of private forests, they are more productive today than public forests. Management is very profitable in the long run and deserves to be recognized.
In the coming months, the Bloc Québécois will press the federal government to recognize management plans as proof of reasonable expectation of profit, so that woodlot management expenses are deductible under section 31 of the Income Tax Act.
The advantages of sustainable woodlot management are many, and we need to ensure that the federal taxation system is better adapted to this type of operation, which benefits the population as a whole.
Under the present tax system, woodlot management expenses are not deductible from total farm income, and this tends to encourage poor forest management.
In other words, the tax system as it applies to private woodlots is not beneficial to farmers and does not favour sustainable resource use. At the present time, there is no specific status under the Income Tax Act for woodlot owners.
In the eyes of Revenue Canada, most of them are seen instead as part time farmers or hobby farmers. That being the case, it is not easy for them to claim their operating losses. They have to prove there was a reasonable expectation of profit, and this is very hard to prove according to the present tax authority requirements. There is, therefore, a lot that needs to be done as far as taxation is concerned to achieve more appropriate recognition of the work of private woodlot owners.
Another point on which the Bloc Québécois will place a great deal of emphasis is changes to the taxation system for private woodlot owners to allow averaging of revenue from the sale of wood produced by sustainable management or harvested after some natural disaster.
This is a very reasonable request, given the great irregularities in forest income. One harvest year, the revenue could be high, but then growers have to wait a number of years before newly planted trees are mature enough for harvesting.
At the present time, woodlot operators' incomes are all taxable in the year of sale of the product, even if that income may represent 10 years of work and be followed by another 10 years totally without income.
These are the reasons operators want income averaging for taxation purposes. That way, someone selling $200,000 worth of lumber this year could, for example, declare $20,000 income over the next 10 years. Obviously the taxation rate would be lower and this would make it possible for operators to live better off the proceeds.
Today, measures must be taken to make forest resources a true lever for growth in the regions of Quebec such as the lower St. Lawrence.
For any progress to be made on this, I would first of all stress the two measures I have just set out: management plans and income averaging for private woodlot owners in Quebec. Supporting those measures is tantamount to recognizing the contribution made by private woodlots to regional development, and acknowledging that private woodlot owners have particular needs which must be listened to.
Private woodlot owners can rest assured that the Bloc Québécois will continue to relay their demands to this House.