International Trade committee  It's a good question. They have been formidable traders. In Japan, though, Canada has been very successful at dealing with its foreign counterparts, including the U.S. So we welcome U.S. competition in that market.

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  I would agree that it's a good defensive approach to pursue an EPA in case Canada is not successful in joining the TPP initiative.

International Trade committee  We're pursuing expansion now. We're dealing with significant underlying trends in Japan, like demographics. I think some success in areas like preferential purchasing could safeguard some of our markets. I think this would probably be the biggest advantage.

International Trade committee  I don't think it is at this time. The forestry agency is pushing this initiative in Japan. It's part of a large ministry, and they've identified some important segments of our business as targets for the development of domestic timber. We talked a little about this so-called two

International Trade committee  They have a rigid system of codes and building requirements in Japan, and in order to introduce new technologies, typically you have to apply for what they call a ministerial approval. In Canada that might fall under the National Research Council's CCMC building materials process

International Trade committee  Aside from other measures to reduce carbon emissions through energy efficiency, things like that, by undertaking to reduce their emissions by 6%, they're proposing to sequester 13 million tonnes. That's the amount of carbon they've identified in their forest. To do that they wa

International Trade committee  They do have strict growing requirements for forestry certification in Japan. I think Canada has stood above, a little bit, current developments with Japan, because we have such a long and solid trading relationship. They've had lots of interaction with provincial forestry author

International Trade committee  I have to admit I don't know how, in the negotiating process, one can deal with those issues, but it is definitely manifesting itself in the market. A colleague of mine who just returned from Japan was in Tohoku, the devastated region of northeast Japan, and saw a brand new sawmi

International Trade committee  That's right. I apologize. I have to keep my remarks brief. Our time for speakers was reduced today. There are issues on the building codes and standards side. Japan has a tendency to develop unique regulations and requirements when it comes to standards and requirements, an

International Trade committee  That's a good question. I apologize if I don't have the specific numbers on hand. Certainly, the largest proportion of our products are manufactured. They would be saw and lumber, which is cut to specific grades, dimensions, and lengths. It is structurally graded and stamped, and

International Trade committee  That's a good question. When I undertook to investigate this talk today, I asked some of my colleagues where they had seen impacts on trade from, say, the preferential purchasing and subsidy issues in Japan. One of the examples I was given was the loss of a 1,000 package home or

International Trade committee  I would urge the government, in our EPA discussions, to take on this subsidy and preferential purchasing issue because it is, I believe, contrary to WTO, and it is causing our industry problems getting its value-added elements in there.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This morning I'm going to be giving some forest industry considerations regarding the economic partnership initiative with Japan. The Canada Wood Group represents the Canadian forest industry overseas. We are, as an industry, the largest forest product

International Trade committee  Yes, I can. Thank you.