I would just like to add that the softwood lumber dispute is certainly not the first dispute to bring us in conflict with the Americans. Unfortunately, we had to start all over again each time. We believed that would continue to be the case as long as there was no way of defining the future. A legal solution had been proposed.
Our assumption is that there may still be negative impacts. We were talking about anti-circumvention earlier. One has only to consider how an employer plans his production month over month, based on how much he has been able to export, to realize that this will probably result in sawmill consolidation, and therefore, job losses.
We have stated and repeated this many times: Quebec workers who are part of this industry are facing a severe crisis, and yet there is some $5 billion in the kitty. Under this agreement, there is absolutely nothing for workers. We are calling on governments, both federal and provincial, to put special programs in place to help them during the transition.
There is a structural problem within our industry. We should be able to introduce temporary programs that focus on career re-development, relocation measures and training. In this industry, there is an older work force with younger workers coming in. But every time there are cutbacks, the young people leave, which creates a vacuum. Economic measures are needed to allow the younger generation to take over. That has to happen through special programs, such as the one mentioned earlier by Mr. Paquette. It would most certainly be advantageous to reintroduce the older worker adjustment programs, to help people get through this crisis and restructure the industry.