Industry committee  Yes.

Industry committee  You're right that the Canadian brand represents quality. Branding in this world is difficult and costly. We have attempted to raise that through the Canadian Furniture Show, which we own. We have a website that lists about 70 Canadian manufacturers, and we get a lot of hits on

Industry committee  I would add that because it's a very competitive industry, there are many new materials that are being used in the production of material, such as different solvents. With different environmental laws, you need R and D to keep up with the new regulations. There's an awful lot of

Industry committee  The answer is, yes, in some cases. I'll give you an example for when you talk about combustible materials. California put out a regulation called TB117-2013. It was a technical regulation that had an impact on the smoulder test for mattresses. Even though the regulation only ap

Industry committee  Perhaps I could add an example. One of our companies in the region recently hired five new Canadians who decided to settle in Montreal. Every Monday morning the company puts them on a bus to Lac-Mégantic. They work there until Thursday night. On Friday they get back on the bus an

Industry committee  That are different from those in the rest of Canada?

Industry committee  You're right. Many of the recommendations are monetary. On the non-monetary side, I would say that the one you just mentioned is very important. When there are changes in government regulation and the industry is not consulted and finds out about it in a memo that's sent to the

Industry committee  The answer is yes. There is a shortage of skilled trades. Number one is to attract the people. In some cases we can train them up pretty easily, but in other cases you do need labour that is a bit more skilled. That's correct. There is a shortage.

Industry committee  Right now in Quebec, one of them is rembourrage. We also need people who sew.

Industry committee  For sofas, etc., that is one of the areas that is very difficult to find people for at this time.

Industry committee  With the perfect storm I mentioned before—the Canadian dollar, the products coming from low-cost production companies, and the slowdown of the economy—we were selling less. What has happened is that products coming from countries that produce at low cost have basically wiped out

Industry committee  Be better than the others.

Industry committee  We're going beyond our area of expertise; however, we do know a bit about the Canadian market. I would say that in Quebec we are very strong in the residential portion of the industry. In fact, it's higher than the 36% we were talking about in terms of the overall industry. In

Industry committee  In fact, the whole world is looking at this very closely. The furniture industry overall is lagging somewhat. Seven or eight years ago, consumers made online reservations for airline tickets or other tickets. Then, they started to buy shoes. Ten years ago, no one would have beli

Industry committee  There are examples of companies in Quebec that have made this shift. I'm thinking of South Shore, for example, which sells 95% of its products online now, as well as in Canada. This company offers IKEA-type products, which may be easier to sell online compared with more tradition