Industry committee  It's 820,000 jobs, it's the largest employer of aboriginal Canadians, and it's the sole employer of 300 towns. I don't think any member of Parliament needs to be convinced this is urgent or that giving this up through inaction would simply be irresponsible. I don't think there's

Industry committee  No answer, okay

Industry committee  Certainly there's a strong argument to be made that the rapid rise of oil prices, allowing the dollar to be driven up that way, creates a huge risk to the rest of the economy. Anybody who's watched markets over the long term knows that what goes up comes down. It feels as though

Industry committee  I would like to jump in on this. Comparing our attitude toward our currency to, say, that of the U.S. or Europe I think is worthwhile. Certainly the head of the European Central Bank was very clear that extreme currency fluctuation undermines the economy. The German currency went

Industry committee  Thank you for both questions. Our industry adds value to almost everything we ship. We don't ship...raw logs is a tiny exception. What we ship is pulp and paper. The reason there are 825,000 jobs is that we've been adding value. As soon as you go up the value chain to furniture

Industry committee  The competitiveness of labour costs is a big piece of keeping jobs in Canada. We've done an analysis of labour costs in Canada relative to our productivity. Our labour costs in the forest industry are the highest in the world. Our labour productivity is middle of the road. We've

Industry committee  What I suggested was to immediately set up a task force on the future of the industry, but we have provided recommendations on market penetration, improvements in infrastructure, removal of barriers to industry rationalization, smart regulations, and elimination of overlap and du

Industry committee  I just wanted to add that rural British Columbia will be hit very hard as well, because they're highly dependent on the forest industry. So it's going to be the manufacturing heartland of Canada, but it's also going to be those rural towns that are dependent on their forestry i

Industry committee  I like the questions left around the table.

Industry committee  I'll just start, a little less technically.

Industry committee  The tax credit is for investment in research. It's done because we all think it's a public good to have companies that research their ways to being more profitable. It keeps jobs and wealth in Canada. That's why there's a government policy saying, if you do it, we'll give you a t

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the committee for focusing on the forest industry. We certainly need your support, your help, and your concentration. We have many economists as witnesses today, but I thought before we go to economics, given that it's St. Valentine's D

Natural Resources committee  It's definitely a value-added product, but the value is being added to Canadian wheat. I think the sugar comes from Manitoba sugar beets. I'd say that there is more fibre in our economics than there is in our cookies.

Natural Resources committee  No, it's definitely not made out of pulp. But the butter, of course, comes from Canadian dairy herds. So if it doesn't make you healthy, it should make you patriotic. Ladies and gentlemen, there are many things that most people already know about the forest industry. Most people

Natural Resources committee  The transfer to the provinces is not in any way a direct support to the forest industry. It is a transfer to the provinces. I asked a colleague from the Ontario government whether he knew what the terms and conditions were; he said “No; we're getting it in general revenue”, so th