Thank you very much. I would like to thank the committee for allowing me to be here today.

I represent J.D. Irving Limited, but I'm also a co-chair of the New Brunswick Lumber Producers. New Brunswick lumber producers represent 95% of the softwood lumber production in New Brunswick. We're a key part of the New Brunswick forest products value chain. We're the largest roundwood buyers for local private woodlot owners. We support thousands of employees working in the mills, as well as professional loggers, truckers and silviculture workers in all regions of the province.

The NBLP, the New Brunswick lumber producers, are the largest supplier of wood chips, biomass and sawdust, which are key ingredients in the manufacturing of the New Brunswick pulp and paper industry, as well as of pellet products. We also supply products to wood fencing manufacturing facilities as well as pellet manufacturing operations.

There are currently 40,000 registered private and industrial woodlot owners in New Brunswick. Historically, the Government of New Brunswick timber utilization survey reports that approximately 50% of the sawmill wood supply comes from private land. This makes New Brunswick the only province, with Nova Scotia, where such a large volume of logs comes from private sources. This is the primary reason that New Brunswick was, until 2017, excluded from the previous four lumber trade cases.

In 2021, New Brunswick's forest product sector generated the highest provincial GDP per capita in Canada, 56% more than the next closest province. In 2021, the New Brunswick forest product sector directly employed almost 12,000 employees. When you add in indirect and induced employment, there are over 23,000 people working in the province in the forest product sector, which is one in every 18 people in the New Brunswick workforce.

The impact of the duty imposed on the New Brunswick lumber producers significantly reduces our capacity to compete with other producers located in the northeast of the United States, Scandinavia and Europe. It also limits our ability to further invest capital in our operations, again reducing our long-term overall competitiveness.

It is interesting to note that, since 2017, the Canadian lumber industry lost almost 10% of the U.S. market share, while EU producers gained 5% during the same period of time.

As part of the trade dispute resolution process under NAFTA and CUSMA, several appeals have been filed by the New Brunswick lumber producers and other Canadian lumber companies. Although NAFTA and CUSMA direct that a final panel decision be made in less than one year, after more than five years no decision has been made. The delay has in part led to the enormous cash deposits held by the U.S. Treasury. Our view is that the NAFTA and CUSMA legal process is broken and ineffective. This leads us to believe that a negotiated settlement is the only way that we will resolve this trade case.

Based on the West Fraser and Canfor shareholders' latest annual reports as mandatory respondents for the CVD and AD administrative reviews, the total duty rate to be imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce in August 2025 is now forecasted to be over 30%. Today the Canadian industry is paying 14% combined duty, and in 2023 the industry paid 8% combined duty. Next year's forecasted duty is quite significant.

If such duty is implemented, it will have a significant impact on Canadian production. We expect to see many curtailments that will take place all over the country that will impact mill workers but also loggers, truckers, pulp and paper mills, renewable energy manufacturing plants and mass timber and engineering wood manufacturing facilities. It will also impact the railroad companies and port activities.

Minister Ng has been active with the Canadian industry on developing a framework for the next softwood lumber agreement. The New Brunswick Lumber Producers appreciate all the efforts and focus that Minister Ng has dedicated to this important file.

Unfortunately, the Canadian industry is not always aligned on the negotiation strategy that Canada should adopt to resolve the current trade case. We are concerned that a small group of Canadian lumber companies may not want to resolve the current trade case in a timely manner. We believe it is important for the Government of Canada to lay the path forward to a settlement that will be accepted, maybe not by all, but by the majority of Canadian lumber producers. It is important for the survival of our industry.

The current lumber trade case between Canada and the U.S. is the fifth one in the last 40 years. In the past four trade cases, the softwood lumber dispute was resolved only when both the Canadian and the U.S. governments made it a priority. For that reason, the New Brunswick Lumber Producers respectfully ask the Government of Canada, led by Minister Ng but also by our Prime Minister, to work jointly with all parties of each province, lumber associations and lumber producers to develop a negotiation strategy and, following the U.S. election, to encourage the United States trade representative to enter into a serious negotiation to resolve these long-term issues.