Madam Chair, I talk to a lot of business owners and workers in the forestry sector, and they all agree that what they are going through is the perfect storm. It is important to explain the context so that people really understand what is happening in the forestry sector.
Not that long ago, we experienced unprecedented forest fires that kept small forestry operations out of the forest even though they are an essential link in the chain. They lost a lot of money. This has impacted the entire chain.
After the forest fires, we had the woodland caribou problem, which caused anxiety all around and put work plans on hold. Even though the order was not finalized, it caused cash flow problems because the banks were nervous about the forestry sector. After that, we had insect infestations that made it very difficult for many in the forestry sector to access fibre.
On top of all that, since 2017, we have been dealing with the softwood lumber dispute with the United States with countervailing and anti-dumping duties. What we have here is a perfect storm. People in the forestry sector are calling our office to tell us that we should expect to see consolidation. Businesses are going to disappear. There are people who will not be able to fulfill their contracts. Jobs will be lost.
The forestry sector is the economic heart of many regions, such as mine, Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean. The same is true for Abitibi, the Lower St. Lawrence, the Gaspé and the North Shore. Many regions of Quebec have small municipalities that rely exclusively on the forestry sector.
I have been here since 2019, and unfortunately I have never seen any real will on the part of the government, nor on the part of the opposition, which cared very little about the forestry issue. We are having a take-note debate this evening, and I hope that we will be able to find solutions for the people of Petit-Saguenay whose sawmill has shut down, for the people of Saint-Michel-des-Saints—I will come back to that later—and for the people of Amos and Port-Cartier. I hope that we will have enough respect to find solutions for these people.
As I was saying earlier, the forestry sector is experiencing a perfect storm. To understand it, we have to think of the sector as a big chain. When one link is cut, the entire chain stops working properly. What is happening now is not just equivalent to cutting just one link, but cutting five or six links. This crisis has been dragging on since the early 2000s. In the early 2000s, the forestry sector supported 95,000 jobs. Today, there are barely 30,000 left.
Not so long ago, the government announced measures. On August 5, it proposed to offer $700 million in loans. To this day, the government is still struggling to get that measure off the ground. The sawmill in Saint-Michel-des-Saints does not qualify for it. People here in Ottawa seem to have no clue when it comes to the forestry sector.
As a final point, I would like to talk about a proposal that has been around for some time, one that was made here by representatives from Chantiers Chibougamau, Arbec, Groupe Rémabec, Domtar, the FTQ and Unifor. These folks all came here to say that they had found a solution. Right now, $11 billion in anti-dumping and countervailing duties is lying dormant in trust in the United States. At first, people were saying that the government should buy back some of these duties. I understand that that is a big pill to swallow. That is why these people joined forces. They got together and decided that the best solution would be for the government to buy back 50% of the duties they had paid at the end of each month.
It was a compromise reached by people in the industry, who said that the government could buy back 50% of the duties they would have paid at the end of each month. What would that mean? It would mean that the industry could continue to operate and that no workers would lose their jobs. Those folks could continue to trade in softwood lumber with the United States while we wait for the worst of the crisis to subside, because right now construction in the United States has basically come to a standstill. Our companies could remain operational, which means that they will be able to respond in the future, when this government has its much-touted Build Canada Homes program up and running.
That seems to be the most acceptable solution, and it has the support of everyone in the industry. Unfortunately, it seems that the government refuses to listen. We are getting radio silence from it, not a “yes”, but not a “no” either.
Earlier, I tried to ask the Leader of the Opposition a question. Everyone is playing a game of cat and mouse, and no one wants to take a position. The forestry sector cannot wait any longer.
People are talking about a $500-million investment that will transform the sector, but the timing is off, because the transformation will take 10 years.
Someone needs to wake up. I want answers from my colleagues tonight.