Natural Resources committee  Just for clarification, those were Canadian companies saying that?

Natural Resources committee  Do you want to go ahead on that?

Natural Resources committee  The remanufacturing industry is very important. It employs thousands of Canadians. There is no question that it's an important industry. The duties that are unfair for the entire sector are at the moment doubly unfair for them, to be clear. My staff were meeting with the remanufacturers this morning, so we're very familiar with their concerns.

Natural Resources committee  On that very specific question, I would defer and get back to you on that.

Natural Resources committee  Do you want to answer, Anne-Hélène?

Natural Resources committee  I mentioned the cluster to indicate how far industry has come and that we're not talking about just kind of pie-in-the-sky ideas from analysts in government. This was industry that came together, with $400 million of funds that they're prepared to invest. Now, they are not finalists in the competition, right?

Natural Resources committee  There's not a simple answer, but I can tell you that then minister Pat Bell from British Columbia in about 2011 had sent an email to staff saying there were 22 mills in British Columbia that were operating because of the China market. Whether or not that number is precise, there's no question that at least 10 mills are basically just sending their product to China.

Natural Resources committee  If you go back to the Filmon report and then the Canadian wildland fire strategy of 2005, which embodied those recommendations in it—it was a Canadian Council of Forest Ministers strategy and just renewed in 2016, so re-endorsed—everybody agrees that “firesmarting” communities is one of the best investments we can make.

Natural Resources committee  I think there were a number of things in the budget. I should mention the softwood lumber action plan, which was approved two months after the budget, which was about $867 million in off-cycle funding. Put together with the funds in the federal budget this year, I would say this is one of the biggest years, if not the biggest year ever, that the federal government has invested in the forest sector.

Natural Resources committee  There's something in notice 102, which is a federal regulation, that essentially mirrors the provincial regulation. It's an agreement between the Government of Canada through Foreign Affairs and the Government of British Columbia to require permits for the export of logs from the west coast.

Natural Resources committee  Obviously, there are some logs that are shipped overseas, but mostly it would be lumber.

Natural Resources committee  I lived in Guyana for three years, and I'm relatively familiar with the Guyanese story. I can say that the issue of log exports is a very controversial one in British Columbia. It's the only place in Canada where we have controls on log exports. Those exports are in place in British Columbia because there is a view that it protects manufacturing jobs in Canada.

Natural Resources committee  I guess you would be referring to tenure, which is a system managed by provinces whereby they have long-term leases, in a sense, over forest tracts. These leases include forest management responsibilities in exchange for the ability to harvest wood. That would mostly be with Canadian-owned or North American-owned companies, like Weyerhaeuser, which is really an American company, or Domtar.

Natural Resources committee  That particular program, GCWood, was announced in the previous budget as part of the pan-Canadian framework on climate change. Its purpose is to contribute to reduction of GHGs through carbon sequestration of building with wood. That program was just launched by the minister in the last few weeks.

Natural Resources committee  I think it could play an enormous role. As I said, 70% of indigenous communities are in forested areas. To the extent that about 130 of the communities are off-grid and are using trucked-in diesel or diesel brought in by ship, and to the extent in particular that they're in forested areas, that can be replaced by biomass.