Natural Resources committee  It will ease the communication, so I'll speak in English. Thank you to the Standing Committee for inviting me for this presentation. I wear four hats. I'm the CEO of the Bureau de promotion des produits du bois du Québec, the Quebec Wood Export Bureau. I'm also the vice-president and founder of Canada Wood, which represents all of the wood industry in Canada for developing the export market.

Natural Resources committee  May I speak in English?

Government Operations committee  I'm just out of a science meeting about this, and the IPCC stated clearly the differences between biogenic material versus non-renewable resources. What we face is that non-renewable resources, like steel, concrete, everything we extract, fossil fuels, which is totally different, have been—

Government Operations committee  Oh yes, there are other building materials that are fine ecologically. I'm not saying wood is the only one. But clearly concrete and steel have been identified by the IPCC as the second and third sources after fossil fuels. The credits are accepted. It's a scientific fact. Deforestation and LUC, which is land use change, are a totally different issue.

Government Operations committee  But the scientific fact is that the fibre you take out of the forest, which is renewed, will decompose and be re-emitted. It's a closed circle. If you take it out and replace fossil fuels, you have a net carbon credit. It's neutral. It will be emitted there or there. That's what we are negotiating for the sequestration in the next round.

Government Operations committee  No, no, there are no chemicals in this--

Government Operations committee  I agree with you on those two points. Canada is an exporting country and we should be promoting our exports and developing outside markets. The countries where we sell our products are currently introducing policies on wood use as a means of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.

Government Operations committee  Thank you very much. I have just come back from Geneva, and that is the reason why I arrived a little late. There a UN committee is working on environmental construction rules and discussing exactly the same issues that have been raised here. Every country in the world knows, as a result of the 2007 IPCC report, that when wood replaces concrete or steel, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.