Natural Resources committee  Well now, definitely, people have to have an income, and you have to keep communities alive, so if there is an opportunity for retraining on different equipment for different types of things, forestry equipment.... There are a lot of contractors out there who have equipment that is sitting idle now.

Natural Resources committee  I've talked about the idea of a summit for a long time; I've been an advocate for the forest industry. We have an opinionated public, but they're just not very well educated in the resource sectors—and those are all of the resource sectors. We started the TERRA program, “Teaching Environmentally Responsible Resource Activities”, back about 12 or 13 years ago at the high school.

Natural Resources committee  On what can be done, Jeff would probably be better on the technical side to answer that. I'll just add a bit after.

Natural Resources committee  There are a number of things out there. We've been through it for a lot of years, from significant provincial and local issues. I say it's a viable industry, but communities are one of the forgotten players in it. Even in forest management planning initiatives that were mentioned, they have economic impact modelling but it's just a check box.

Natural Resources committee  Thanks, Jeff, and again, thanks to the committee. We have a package here. We'll have more to circulate. I think some of you have it in your hands now, but we will hand it out after the presentation. I'm reeve of the Township of James and Elk Lake. I've been reeve for 26 years.