The transformation of Canada's forest sector : Report of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources

THE TRANSFORMATION OF CANADA’S FOREST SECTOR Report of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources Leon Benoit Chair JUNE 2015 41st PARLIAMENT, SECOND SESSION Published under the authority of the Speaker of the House of Commons SPEAKER’S PERMISSION Reproduction of the proceedings of the House of Commons and its Committees, in whole or in part and in any medium, is hereby permitted provided that t [...] David L. Lindsay, President and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) stated: “[…] since the report of 2008 there has been considerable progress on the part of the industry, our partners in the innovation space, and the government to create an alignment and move forward on a journey of transformation for the Canadian forest sector […] the perfect storm of economic circumstances w [...] Lindsay affirmed that the industry is the primary employer in hundreds of Canadian communities, providing between 200,000 and 230,000 direct jobs across the country.6 As a result of cooperation between the industry, the federal government and other levels of government, the number of jobs in the forestry sector is expected to grow; “the Forest Products Association of Canada forecasts that another [...] Dennis Brown, Mayor of the Town of Atikokan.7 This projected job creation will help compensate for a job loss of 125,000 which resulted from the “perfect storm” of economic circumstances in the industry – at its peak in 2008 – and, in the opinion of the Committee, demonstrates a strong recovery in the industry.8 Often, when an industry adopts new innovation and new technology – as the forest 2. RN [...] She stated that the “medium- and long-term damage to the economies of the affected [Quebec] communities and the forest industry cannot be underestimated.”17 In Ontario and Quebec, “the base of the world’s paper production historically,” the paper sector has been particularly affected by the declining demand for paper products (mainly owing to the rise of electronic media and e-readers).18 Nonethel