International Trade committee  Thank you, Madam Chair.

International Trade committee  Good question. First, how is the Canadian forest industry doing? You have heard my colleagues speak about this topic. I think that the industry is doing well. There were some challenges in British Columbia with the flooding, but things should be back to normal now that the CP st

International Trade committee  Obviously, the members are concerned about the woodland caribou situation. A number of them have taken very proactive steps to get out of certain areas, be it through compensation or other things. They're living with this reality as FSC or SFI certified companies. They must take

International Trade committee  Actually, the price of lumber is determined by the North American market. The softwood lumber tax imposed by the U.S. influences the price Canadians pay. On one hand, the softwood lumber dispute has to be resolved if the price of lumber on the continent is to come down. On the ot

International Trade committee  That may be a good question for my counterparts, who have been around longer than I have. I can tell you, however, that since I took this job 18 months ago, we've had a few working meetings with the minister and her staff to start thinking about a Team Canada approach, which we s

International Trade committee  Yes. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's last few reports, we need to plant more trees and enhance sustainable forest harvesting—two things we are already doing in Canada—and make much more use of trees and forest products in the construction sector. A c

International Trade committee  I don't want to speak for the oil and gas sector. As my colleagues have mentioned, programs are vital for the industry to modernize and be competitive. For instance, to help the pulp and paper sector with conversion, the government offers the investments in forest industry trans

International Trade committee  Yes. The WTO ruled that it was entirely compliant.

International Trade committee  If that's the missing piece to reach an agreement, I think the Quebec industry would be willing to discuss it. Instead of having a regime in a trading system with taxes and restricted market access, the industry would prefer an agreement that creates a free trade environment for

International Trade committee  On one hand, there has to be a dialogue, as Mr. Warner and Ms. Yurkovich pointed out. On the other hand, the U.S. coalition has the ability to veto the final decision. One thing is for sure: the American administration can significantly lower the tax rate on lumber if it wants to

International Trade committee  Everyone would indeed win. The issue is finding a way for the coalition to see its interests as being met, because if it doesn't sign off, the U.S. government won't be able to conclude the negotiations with Canada. In short, reaching a deal would be in Canada's interest as well

International Trade committee  Madam Chair, I'm going to ask our chief economist to fully answer the question.

International Trade committee  As my fellow witnesses have all said, sooner or later, it will come down to negotiation, whether the focus is solely on softwood lumber or on other issues as well. Trade disputes get resolved through agreement. That is the only way to proceed in the long term, so we have to star

International Trade committee  I believe so. Ms. Yurkovich, Mr. Krips, Mr. Nighbor, Mr. Vincent, Mr. Labbé and Mr. Warner all talked about it. I think all the witnesses would tell you today that we need to come to the table with a Team Canada approach. That is the preferred approach, the one we should adopt as

International Trade committee  You could say the annual rate fluctuations are the result of some black box inside the U.S. Department of Commerce. We don't know why the rates go up or down from one year to the next, but they bring great uncertainty. The only thing companies can control—to the extent that's pos