Mr. Chair, I want to mention that I will be sharing my time with my colleague from North Island—Powell River.
Today, I am going to talk about my region, the Lower St. Lawrence and Chaudière‑Appalaches. It is a corner of the country filled with hard-working people, small businesses, rural roads and community pride. In short, people there just want to work and earn a decent living. The Lower St. Lawrence and Chaudière‑Appalaches are home to about 600,000 people spread out across several hundred municipalities, including 75 in my riding alone. It is a land where every job counts, a land filled with hard-working Canadians and tight-knit communities.
These regions are also supported by major employers from the forestry sector that are the lifeblood of entire municipalities. For example, Groupe Lebel has a major presence in a number of RCMs, five of which are in my riding. Maibec is a key player in wood processing. Matériaux Blanchet is heavily involved in innovation. Bégin & Bégin, Groupement forestier de Témiscouata and Groupe NBG are family businesses that support hundreds of families and are among the largest wood processing companies in Quebec.
In my riding, their plants are economic institutions. They not only support residents, they support businesses and rural communities too. Every year, we harvest 4.2 million cubic metres of timber, or nearly 15% of all the timber in Quebec. This supports more than 590 businesses in all sectors combined. I want to emphasize that I am talking about hauling companies, next-generation loggers with state-of-the-art machinery that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy and operate, businesses that sharpen the plants' blades, mechanics who maintain the plants' machinery, as well as electricians and electrical mechanics. They are all key jobs in this sector of activity that are essential to the forestry industry and form part of this major industrial and manufacturing chain.
Forestry provides close to 13,700 direct jobs in our plants, in addition to thousands of indirect jobs in trucking, maintenance, retail and services. In 2021 alone, it generated $1.3 billion in work income in my region. Now, all of that wealth is threatened by the U.S. tariffs.
For years, the industry has faced duties on Canadian softwood lumber. Currently, the U.S. is imposing a 45% tariff on Canadian softwood lumber, while European lumber is entering the U.S. with a 10% tariff. I have a simple question: How is it that European lumber pays a 10% tariff, but Canadian lumber pays 45%? We are neighbours with the Americans. We are partners. However, we are the ones being penalized the most.
During the debate tonight, I heard some of my colleagues talk about how far away Europe is from us. In Saint‑Pamphile and Saint‑Just‑de‑Bretenières, it would take us less than seven or eight hours to drive to the United States to sell our lumber there. Now, the U.S. is bringing in just as much lumber from Europe, with tariffs at 10%. Canada is completely losing its markets.
The industry is now rightly demanding the release of the $10 billion in countervailing and anti-dumping duties that the United States is holding. We are talking about $10 billion that has been tied up for 10 years. Who has been in power for 10 years? The Liberals. Meanwhile, what are we hearing in Ottawa? The Prime Minister is saying that there is no pressing need to discuss tariffs with Washington, that there are no burning issues to discuss. Where does this Prime Minister live? Certainly not here.
The money being held in U.S. coffers belongs to workers and should be reinvested in plant, equipment and wages in Canada. This is urgent. There are 13,000 jobs at stake. They say they care. When 500 businesses are at risk of going under, it is urgent. If they care so much, they need to provide support.
I am glad I made this speech. I am wondering if I still have some time left, because I have a lot more to say. One thing is certain: We cannot leave these jobs, these people and these families in limbo, as is currently the case. It makes no sense. The Liberal government has had 10 years to solve this problem, yet it still has not been able to do it. I hope the Liberals will finally give us some answers tonight so that we can solve this problem, which has been going on for far too long.