International Trade committee  Absolutely. The traditional lines of business that the industry's been in for many years have been the lumber, the pulp, and the paper. A tree, of course, can now be broken down into far more chemical-like components. One of the key aspects that the industry has been pursuing s

International Trade committee  This is a very difficult question. I will answer you in English, if I may.

International Trade committee  I want to make sure I give you a proper answer. Absolutely. We've lost a lot of jobs across the country—there's no question. Some of the restructuring in the industry was necessary. We had an industry that had overcapacity; that was a result of our industry growing quite quickl

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  Correct.

International Trade committee  Yes, and then there's another small piece that goes all around.

International Trade committee  Generally speaking, the EU is what you would call a mature marketplace. They're not growing exponentially. Our market share has shrunk over the past couple years. The important part about this deal is that they do import, from non-EU countries, about $23 billion worth of product.

International Trade committee  Yes, absolutely. Thank you for that question. You're exactly right. What's happening in Europe is that governments develop procurement policies for their own purchasing habits and they tend to be done behind closed doors and without any open process. You end up having--whether

International Trade committee  Well, penalties probably would be extreme. I think you would want to have an open process, because a penalty would require that somebody has done you an ill.

International Trade committee  I don't think we're saying that. I think what we're saying is to have an open process for how you develop the policies and then have experts come to testify if you feel the policies are restrictive in some way, and hopefully that can have them amended.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is a great pleasure to be here with you today to discuss this topic. The Forest Products Association of Canada is the national trade association that represents Canada's integrated pulp, paper, and lumber producers. The industry at large represents abou

Industry committee  I will answer you in English because I want to be very clear. First of all, in our view the government has been extremely supportive of the industry. Throughout this entire crisis, they've gone to great lengths to find ways to support the industry, and we are very grateful for

Industry committee  --but what I will say is that our goal is to make sure we continue to--

Industry committee  Thank you for the question. Essentially, as in my answer to Mr. Rafferty, this industry is a capital-intensive industry. Beyond the cost of the fibre and the energy that goes into making the product, we need to invest heavily into new equipment and new machinery, and that's in t

Industry committee  What I know is that our members are behaving by the rules of the law. If you want to deal with all the different pieces of legislation that are out there and amend them, I think that's certainly the prerogative of the committee. What our members would like to do is remain healthy