International Trade committee  Right, and that product range can be anywhere from a clear shop-grade board that you're going to send there that would be made into windows and doors, say, in Italy, to actual cabinets or those kinds of products.

International Trade committee  Certainly for our plywood producers this will be very, very good news, because right now they pay I think a 10% tariff, which prices them out of the market. We have one full-blown plywood producer on the coast as well as a couple of veneer producers who produce the veneer for plywood.

International Trade committee  Yes, sure. The TPP is in full swing. There are three issues in TPP that are of concern to the forest products industry. The first one is that we want to ensure that the provisions in NAFTA, especially around chapter 19, continue to be enforced—i.e., they don't get negotiated away.

International Trade committee  Yes. The thing about the value-added industry on the coast of British Columbia is that it's very commercially driven. When we undertook our value-added study, we were very interested to see the breadth of the industry on the coast. There are over 160 firms. We surveyed a hundred of them.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Susan is my director of communications, so she has come here to try to keep me in line. Thanks for inviting us here today to talk about this very important topic. We look forward to the questions and answers afterwards. I'd like to start by offering our congratulations to the Government of Canada on what we think is a highly proactive approach to initiating and completing a bilateral agreement with the EU on trade.

Government Operations committee  The forest industry doesn't share your view on that. We believe this bill doesn't tell you that you have to use wood; it levels the playing field.

Government Operations committee  I don't actually agree with your assessment there, to tell you the truth. I'll lead you to Japan; the Japan national government just passed a wood first policy. It is very similar to what you're being asked to consider here. B.C. has passed—

Government Operations committee  Sure. Those two buildings show that modern building applications, innovations, and high-tech technology transfers can be used. And what are those buildings made of? Those buildings are made of wood, steel, and concrete. They're hybrid. This isn't an “us versus them” discussion.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for accommodating us out here on the west coast via video conference. It certainly helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions in that I didn't have to fly to Ottawa. I'm Rick Jeffery, president and CEO of Coast Forest Products Association. We represent 24 companies on the coast of British Columbia, with over 12,000 employees.

Government Operations committee  Yes indeed, I can hear you.