Mr. Speaker, as I said in my speech, the forest industry does not want an agreement at any cost. We want a good agreement. We do not want an agreement that would be more punitive than the one that we have.
We recognize that perhaps it is a difficult time to negotiate an agreement with the protectionism that is going on in the United States. I talked to Duncan Davies, who is the CEO of Interfor, when he appeared before the trade committee. He pointed out that the two conditions under which the Americans get cranky about softwood lumber are when the Canadian dollar is low and when lumber prices are low. Right now the Canadian dollar is not very high and lumber prices are going up. It probably would have been a better time if the Conservatives, once they had extended the agreement by two years in 2013, had negotiated then, when the Canadian dollar was more or less at par with the American dollar and lumber prices were looking better.
Here we are today and the Liberal government has to take the reins and get us a good deal. Lumber prices are good and are getting better than they were. The government has to get a new agreement. As I said, we do not want an agreement at any cost. The government should provide supports to the industry beyond this agreement that would keep it thriving pending the outcome of the negotiations.