Natural Resources committee  To help heal your pride, Mr. Simard, as you mentioned, the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi does indeed offer a perfectly fine graduate program in wood construction. However, it's really intended for very specialized, dedicated and focused professionals, whereas we need it to be

Natural Resources committee  I am pleased to see you again, Mr. Lefebvre. Generally, the demand is taking shape. It's somewhat of a paradox, because, in a lot of economic sectors, the need is for diversification, investments and jobs, but there is no market. In this case, there is a market, and it is mature

Natural Resources committee  We believe that demonizing steel or concrete is absolutely pointless and unproductive. Any timber structure needs concrete foundations and steel connectors. The materials complement each other and each one has its role. Do we ask ourselves what happened to the jobs in the factor

Natural Resources committee  First of all, COVID-19 brought insecurity and the unknown. It is as if the floor beneath our feet became very unstable last March 11. We had no idea of the form everything would take in the days that followed, until the middle of April. Support from the federal government, speci

Natural Resources committee  There is no tax, for the simple reason that a solid wood beam, column or panel, once it has cleared US customs and been delivered on US soil, cannot be broken down to its 2 x 4 lumber form and sold as such to compete with US producers.

Natural Resources committee  Our main export challenge is logistics, including rail transportation for custom-made products to be delivered to the United States. This would be an avenue to explore. During the Trump administration, we did our first federal government infrastructure project where, for the fir

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Simard. Natural Resources Canada does indeed play an active role in supporting the development of this emerging sector. In this case, since the beginning of this meeting, people have been talking a great deal about the investments in the forest industry transform

Natural Resources committee  Actually, demand is still growing at a fairly sluggish rate. The critical factor is with the National Building Code; it is not so much the demand for growth as the removal of a hurdle with respect to solid wood construction. The 6, 8, 10 or 12-storey solid wood projects we have d

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Simard. I will tie this in with what Mr. Kalesnikoff said, as Nordic Structures is an integral part of our organization. What Mr. Kalesnikoff said he experiences daily out West we consistently experience in Quebec and in every corner of Canada. To answer your que

Natural Resources committee  Everyone's ready. We're ready. We look forward to engaging in this conversation with you today, to take it even further.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ladies and gentlemen, members of the committee, thank you for welcoming me here today and giving me the opportunity to engage in this conversation about the potential of the forestry sector in Canada and, of course, in Quebec to further support a low-carbon