Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you for this opportunity. I'll say, on behalf of our sector and its people, that we do appreciate all the dialogue and efforts being made on both sides of the House. It's a really difficult time for our sector. I'm happy to talk a little bit about the landscape and then take your questions after that.

FPAC, as you know, represents Canada's wood, pulp, paper and wood bioproduct manufacturers across the country. We are a $97-billion industry that exports more than half of what it makes, directly employing some 200,000 Canadians.

I am grateful that Lana and Kevin are here today. CHBA and Unifor are two key partners and thoughtful voices for employees and the broader forest sector value chain.

Despite the increased tariffs, closed mills and jobs lost to date, make no mistake about it—this sector has a lot of promise. There's much more we can do, and many more jobs we can create. While the realities of today are sadly against the backdrop of decline and massive trade risk, it doesn't have to be this way. I view this testimony as an opportunity to get our federal government to think about us more strategically and to end the game of whack-a-mole policy development that runs counter to how forest-based economies in other countries are growing, countries like the U.S., Brazil, Finland and Sweden.

The World Bank forecasts that global timber demand will quadruple by 2050. Where do we want to get this timber from? It is driven by global population growth and the want to build towns and cities around the world with clean, renewable materials. Global demand is growing. International customers value wood products coming from Canada. Our industry should be getting bigger, not smaller, as we consider the global opportunity over the next couple of decades. We're the only building materials sector whose products grow back.

Another unique thing about our industry—I can't be here without talking about our pulp and paper industry—is that our sawmills need our pulp and paper mills. If I think about Ontario, for example, back in 2000 we had 15 pulp and paper mills. We now have three. These pulp and paper mills are a critical off-ramp for our sawmills to sell their chips and other residuals to, ensuring that every part of the harvested tree creates value.

We're not running out of trees, and yet from 2004 to 2022 we've seen nearly a 40% reduction in wood harvested in Canada—45% down in B.C., 50% down in Ontario, 38% down in Quebec and 66% down in Nova Scotia. Let's not forget that, as harvesting activity declines, it impacts forest health and resilience. There's an imperative to consider here, too, for improved public safety, a reduction in the number of community evacuations, an avoidance of declining air quality in the summer and a mitigating of the risk of more carbon emissions from fire.

Canada's national forest inventory report will show you that across Canada's boreal forest, more than 60% of the trees are now between 61 and 140 years old. These are trees and forests that are aging and approaching end of life. If harvesting volumes continue to fall, we'll face an even greater risk of catastrophic fire across the Canadian boreal forest in out years. Unfortunately, little to none of this has been considered as part of the climate and national adaptation plans of the federal government. It's a huge miss, and it's offside with how other leading forested countries are thinking.

In the Q and A, I look forward to discussing some of the big plays to address the current trade risks: getting those trade panels working and overcoming the ineffectiveness of legal challenges, which you've heard about from some of my colleagues in recent weeks; addressing the job impacts and financial burden of increasing duties; considering important regional trade plays, such as the relationship of B.C. and Alberta with California and the relationship on trade that Ontario and Quebec have with New York; working with Kevin and CHBA and others to make our sector a gateway to building more affordable homes; making Canada a global leader in mass timber manufacturing; and driving value and supporting heat and power generation by using low-grade wood.

I'll close on market diversification. In the past 20 years, Canada Wood has been the public-private partnership that has worked really well to help us diversify markets, with a big focus on Asia. I know that there's been some talk about diversification at this committee. Over the years, it's generated $15 of benefit for every single dollar spent, not to mention its support of over 14,000 jobs dependent on offshore shipments. Unfortunately, it saw its success met with a federal budget cut during last year's budget period, forcing Canada Wood to reduce its staff by 85%. Its once $12-million diversification budget is now at less than $4 million.

We have lots to discuss. We remain in the solutions space. Our employees and forest-dependent communities want action. I appreciate the committee looking at this with solutions in mind and meeting us where we're at.

I look forward to your questions.

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