Industry committee  Sorry, I must be on the wrong channel or something. How do I get this in English? Number one, okay.

Industry committee  Yes, I got it. I can hear, yes.

Industry committee  I'm not getting a translation.

Industry committee  Yes. I'm hearing one, two, yes. Great.

Industry committee  No. As far as I know, they're still negotiating some of the clauses in it. As far as I know, the agreement had the 95% required, then apparently there was a change on the 12th, then there's the litigation, and that's still going on. As far as I know, the Court of International Trade has not even seen the final copy referred to in the motion the U.S. government put before them, and they gave the government eight to ten days to come up with a copy.

Industry committee  The thing has gone so fast that nobody really knows how to do it. The companies operating under the thing, there's supposed to be a first-mill provision in there. Some of them have received the nod that yes, you're a first mill, and other guys have no idea whether they are or not.

Industry committee  This has not occurred, and we ask you to recommend that the House follow through on this motion before passing Bill C-24.

Industry committee  No. I would say that we have not been consulted to the extent that we wanted to be consulted, either federally or provincially. Like I say, we're the small, non-tenured guys. I don't even know if the remanufacturers were on the map until five or six years ago. People are aware of this now, but we don't quite fit the bill on that.

Industry committee  Yes, we're going to be far worse off. We took our first hit under the softwood lumber agreement of 1996, when there was quota, and our quota was insufficient. But at least at that time, if you had more shipments to make, you could pay 2.5% or $50 a thousand. You'd get 2.5%, then $100 a thousand after that, and keep on shipping.

Industry committee  It should be under ten. I'll just read this and then have the questions. I thank you for inviting the Independent Lumber Remanufacturers' Association, which I will refer to as the ILRA, to appear before your committee. Our 120 member companies represent the majority of British Columbia's non-tenured forest products sector.

International Trade committee  I don't remember all the permutations and combinations, but basically, the variables are the random length index, where it is, and levels of shipments being above or below the 110. What those variables are will determine the tax level or the quota level and whether there's any add-on penalty.

International Trade committee  Well, there are eight possible tax rates, depending upon the random length index and whether you're above or below the 110. Three of those are involved in the quota, that being the 2.5%, the 3%, and the 5%. On the quota, it can either be 34, 32, or 30. I guess there are actually four, because if you're over $355, there wouldn't be one.

International Trade committee  No.

International Trade committee  Yes, absolutely, for sure. We wish we were making 15% or 22.5% on the product so we could give it to the government, but we're not. Even under the $500 cap, we just don't have $75 to hand to the government, or $112.50 if we were under the retroactive penalty. We can't price our products.

International Trade committee  We thank you for having the Independent Lumber Remanufacturers Association back again so soon and for taking a second look at this proposed softwood lumber agreement. We're also very pleased to see the National Association of Home Builders here today, and we thank them for supporting Canada and free trade.