Natural Resources committee  With regard to Russia, International Paper is the only major public company that has gone in--$650 million. They're on the ground. Generally speaking, Canadians would have difficulty, because we're too small. If you go there, you are assuming some political risk. We're not big enough.

Natural Resources committee  I think they've postponed it for probably a year. In 2010 or 2011, my guess is they will go to 50% to 80%. There is no question on the direction. They will go, and they are willing to take a chance on WTO entry on that. This is also a question of pride to them. We have a unique advantage, because they don't trust the Finns.

Natural Resources committee  The bottom line is on the duty, 30% and even more, and it's because of the anti-dumping concern; it's not a subsidy. It's because we're running our sawmills to supply chips to the pulp and paper mills. With regard to diluting the efforts in R and D, I see a plethora of regional efforts.

Natural Resources committee  It's one positive step, but it's not your single solution, partly because we do not grow trees fast enough. But it will help. One thing to bear in mind as we look at pricing carbon, whether through a cap and trade system or a tax, is if everyone else does it among our competing partners, this sector will benefit.

Natural Resources committee  In my view, we should do more at a national level, and to some extent we will follow the lead of the United States. I draw your attention to the Lieberman-Warner act in the United States. It's a bipartisan piece of legislation that has already essentially set the framework for a cap and trade system in the United States.

Natural Resources committee  I'll deal quickly with the carbon issue first. I think we're in agreement that you should manage for it. I think the devil is in the details of how we do it. To some extent, it's important to recognize that you're dealing with a biological resource, and if we don't harvest often, in some cases nature will, in the form of fires or insects.

Natural Resources committee  Just quickly, is there an opportunity in the fact that the Russians don't have...? Again, it's not just the physical infrastructure, it's the social infrastructure, the tremendous lack of transparency. They will have difficulty here. As they pull these logs off the market, there will be a window.

Natural Resources committee  Essentially, we can use it in cogeneration plants--biomass into coal-fired power plants is one way. The reason I mentioned the ethanols and so forth is because we really have the need for two types of energy: the transportation fuels--gases and diesel--which are highly polluting; and the second is where we could substitute for coal in some areas.

Natural Resources committee  There are three ways in which you can use this. One is the commercial power plants, which use the electricity. The second is district heating units. Everywhere you have a hospital or a university is a potential use. This is what we see in Europe--about 30% of the demand is for that, absolutely.

Natural Resources committee  It's a very good question. Let me give you some numbers from Europe--and they will vary to North America's. In Europe they've looked at taking a given cubic metre of wood and asking, do we put it into bioenergy or do we put it into pulp and paper? The interesting numbers are that in terms of GDP, you get a GDP multiplier eight times greater in pulp and paper than in bioenergy, and for employment, it's 13 times greater.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members. Thank you for having me here. I should state at the outset that I wear an investment hat. I lead the group at CIBC World Markets, dealing with investments in the forest sector as well as the bioenergy sector. My job is to essentially advise investors where in the world they should put their money in the forest products sectors.