Industry committee  On the first question, I think the dollar is rising because of forces that are largely, though not entirely, outside our control. Oil and gas prices and U.S. deficits are clearly driving our dollar more than our fundamental cost competitiveness within Canada, though we think the Bank of Canada has some margin within which to manage the dollar and has shown no evidence of managing it to the lower end of that margin.

Industry committee  I'm glad you asked this question, because I think this is one of the really exciting things about this industry. The forest products industry really has the potential to become and to be a truly sustainable, regenerating industry, and we are well on that path. Obviously, there's more to be done, but we're well on that path.

Industry committee  We are not familiar enough with the state of the current negotiations to be able to comment on that.

Industry committee  FPAC, as you may know, is a national association with members from across the country. Our members often have different views and different commercial perspectives on the softwood issue, and certainly on the negotiations that are under way. So we don't have an official position or a role.

Industry committee  I think that the most important thing for most of our members is to have a solid agreement, an agreement that is suitable for the Canadian industry...

Industry committee  That is the most important thing.

Industry committee  We expect the government to do everything possible to reach an agreement that will be beneficial for the Canadian industry.

Industry committee  We are a big supporter of sectoral approaches to competitiveness. In terms of competitiveness, we feel that it is very important to take into account certain sectoral characteristics. If the government and the industry were to meet in order to look at the situation from every angle, whether it involved regulations, transportation, or other angles, we would have a better idea of the challenges facing us but also of potential changes.

Industry committee  On the issue of competition policy, the challenge we have been facing in our industry with federal competition policy is twofold. One is that in its application the bureau has reviewed recent transactions, and while it has not stopped any recent transactions, in a number of cases it has imposed conditions on the transactions that have resulted in the sale of assets.

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To address your first question, it's very difficult to attribute job losses directly to the dollar's increase. I think what we can see in our sector are the 11,000 job losses over the last three years. In the manufacturing sector as a whole within Canada, we saw a drop of 100,000 jobs over the past year.

Industry committee  Okay. I had better speed up a little bit. Another example is our buyers, who are consolidating rapidly, and in order to service such buyers, our industry needs economies of scale in production, services, and supply in order to be their preferred suppliers. There are a few other priorities for us in terms of the business climate.

Industry committee  Yes, that would be great. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I would like to introduce my colleague, Mr. Tom Rosser, who is appearing with me today; he is FPAC's chief economist. On behalf of the member companies of the Forest Products Association of Canada, let me first say that we greatly welcome this important opportunity to provide the committee with perspectives regarding the economic climate within which Canada's forest products industry is currently operating.