Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Perhaps in all fairness, Minister, we should clarify something. A proposed motion came to the committee regarding a round table of sorts, but it was never passed at this committee. And now that I've said that, I want to thank you for taking the initiative to put together a round table on the future of forestry in our country.
I know it's going to attract leaders in forestry from all across the country, and I think it will be a very appropriate partner to the report that's going to come out of this committee as we wind up our studies on the future of the forest industry, the challenges and opportunities we face in Canada. So I think it's a good one-two move for the government to have some clarity on where the forest industry is going in the country, both in the manufactured lumber and the pulp and paper industries, as well as the additional value-added products we expect out of it.
Thank you for that, Minister.
I want to talk just briefly about some of the spending that's mentioned in the budget. Of course you knew I was going to bring up mountain pine beetle, and I see there's $30.8 million allotted in this fiscal year. Can you just give us a brief outline on how those funds are going to be spent?
Then you might want to comment on the forest communities program, because this is really important to our forest industry. I think there's about $1 billion for that.