International Trade committee  It was our pleasure. Thank you very much.

International Trade committee  I would say it's whether the Americans would allow us to do that. The Americans principally would like to protect their market and they would like to limit access to Canadians to raise prices; that's their intent. We simply want to remain in business, so there is the conflict. We

International Trade committee  Yes, I do.

International Trade committee  A win for us is an agreement with the Americans that allows access for the lumber producers into the U.S. Principally, I'd like to see something that recognizes the large producers, which essentially produce CLS or construction-grade material—a commodity—and I'd like to see the

International Trade committee  The export of raw logs is an explosive topic in B.C. It has a positive side and a negative side, from my perspective. The positive side is that export log values allow operators—tenure holders and small businesses—to operate and harvest in areas in which they might not otherwise.

International Trade committee  As you know, there is no export tax on logs into the States, so the U.S. purchases a fair volume of logs from B.C.

International Trade committee  As I said earlier, our business model and the economics of our model are predicated on lower-cost residual fibre. Every time a lumber manufacturer goes out of business, we have to source a more expensive pulp log from the bush and support the economics of that. This is detrimenta

International Trade committee  I don't exactly know. I haven't looked at the agreement, but I'm told there are some positive benefits for the forest industry, so I will take it at face value.

International Trade committee  We would prefer an export tax for the same reasons that Harry Nelson has explained. It at least allows people access to market. I'm thinking of some of the smaller operators that supply us with chips and fibre.

International Trade committee  The pulp is sold at the destination. The majority of the markets depend on where the most inexpensive shipping is. Our markets have changed over time. When we started in 2008, we were largely unproven. Our customers were reluctant to deal with us because we were employee-owned.

International Trade committee  I will.

International Trade committee  I am going to start with a bit of an introduction to our company, if you could indulge me. I represent Harmac Pacific. We are a B.C. company operating in Nanaimo. We produce northern bleached softwood kraft, and we are in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. We have an annual capacity o