International Trade committee  I'm told that the job numbers--and I'm not sure they're incremental jobs--is 10,000. I'm told that with the build-out there's an opportunity, a potential, for 10,000 new jobs.

International Trade committee  What I'm saying is that as we put our regulatory regime and our stumpage fees.... Historically in Saskatchewan, not unlike other provinces, we've had some government initiatives to support industry, such as the building of roads tied into forest management agreements and those ty

International Trade committee  What has been negotiated, from our understanding, is neither, so unless we can be convinced, how could we sign on...? Obviously we're not required to sign on, but how could we offer agreement when what you have negotiated as a country doesn't support, from our perspective, either

International Trade committee  We've got sawmills that are shut in partly. We've got the differential between Canadian and American dollars, which creates difficulties. We had the softwood lumber uncertainty. It's very difficult to attract investment in this kind of environment. I know what you're saying about

International Trade committee  I think I made clear what we saw to be the process. Before July 2005, we were fully involved and we appreciated that engagement. After that we really heard nothing about the terms of settlement until federal officials indicated to us, just the day before the announcement, what wa

International Trade committee  I think it's pretty obvious that our officials have been working closely over the course of years, even though we weren't party to this in the early years as a province. We were able to provide input from the Saskatchewan perspective, but after July, as this agreement was being p

International Trade committee  My officials are telling me and I'm hearing that the negotiations are all but done.

International Trade committee  Then I'm willing to look at a vehicle to find a fair balance and a fair percentage of export markets for our province. I don't know what that vehicle is. But if you're telling me this afternoon that there is a vehicle whereby we can achieve at least the export percentage of the A

International Trade committee  Mr. Chair, from a Saskatchewan perspective, a negotiated settlement needs to be two things. It needs to be fair, first of all, and it needs to be durable.

International Trade committee  I'm going to ask my colleague Mr. Brander to partially speak to this. But using Statistics Canada's figures, in 2000 we exported 451 million board feet, and the average calculation between 2001 and 2005 is 282 million. Obviously, there's an incredible decrease from what we export

International Trade committee  There are a number of elements to this. First of all, I think what hasn't been taken into account is our ability to build out our industry, because we have more ability to grow and build this sector. Instead, based on the methodology that was used to calculate, we are on the ve

International Trade committee  It would obviously be everyone's preference to have all of the money that was taken through these initiatives returned. The basis of our support for an agreement has to be fairness. I'm going to share with members of the committee Statistics Canada's own figures as they relate

International Trade committee  The numbers I quoted are from 2000, at which time we had 451 million. The average from 2001 to 2005 is 282 million, which is a decrease of 38%.

International Trade committee  I don't believe so. I wouldn't want to mislead you. My officials are telling me no, so we're not a party to a legal action. We're here representing the people of Saskatchewan--the families, the jobs, the opportunities. How can it be that an agreement would contract our ability

International Trade committee  I think it's fair to say that until July 2005, when the negotiations collapsed in Washington, we were fully involved in the process. After that date we heard nothing about the terms of settlement until our officials were briefed by their federal colleagues in Washington the day b