Mr. Chair, as we know, the softwood lumber crises began about 40 years ago. They ebb and flow, so much so that they have unfortunately become a kind of background noise as of late.
I would still like to share some of the things I have seen here since 2019, when I was first elected. First, I saw the renegotiation of NAFTA, when the government unfortunately did not seize the opportunity to review the dispute settlement mechanism. If it had, lawsuits would not be so drawn out and we could avoid situations like the ones we are seeing now.
Then, in 2021, I saw the Biden administration impose punitive new tariffs on our industry, and immediately afterwards, the international trade minister organized a mission to Washington, but only to discuss the other issue at hand, namely the risks that the Biden administration was posing to the automotive industry in Canada.
On the heels of those same new tariffs, I also saw that the words “softwood lumber” were not even included in the international trade minister's mandate letter a few weeks later.
I see that the Chair is asking me to wrap up—