May 17, 2002
Ottawa, Ontario

Our government announced yesterday investments approaching $75 million for new measures that will help secure the long-term prosperity and competitiveness of Canada’s forest-products industry.

These measures build on our $5.3 million investment last March in the Canada-China Woods Products Initiative. They are part of our Red Book III commitment to help grow industries that add value to primary resources, by supporting a wood products marketing strategy.

Our government understands that many Canadians are directly affected by the unfair and unwarranted duties imposed by the United States. And we will continue to press our strong case under NAFTA and the WTO.

But at the same time, we must look to the future. We need to take long-term measures that will continue to increase the competitiveness of our forest-products sector and open new markets for our industry.

Yesterday’s announcement is structured as follows:

• $29.7 million for the Canada Wood Export Program – a cooperative effort with industry associations and the provinces – to expand our markets beyond the United States.
• $30 million for Canada’s three national forest research institutes – the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada, Forintek Canada Corp. and the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada. This will help the institutes improve long-term competitiveness in both the wood-products sector and the pulp and paper sector.
• $15 million for the Value-Added Research Initiative for Wood Products. This will help the value-added subsector of the Canadian wood industry, which includes mostly small- and medium-sized companies. This program is designed to make the subsector more competitive, creating jobs in B.C., in Quebec and other provinces.

The investments announced yesterday focus on the longer term – on the importance of diversifying our exports markets and on research and innovation leading to new forest products.

We have consulted widely with the industry and the provinces on these initiatives. We are confident that they will put them in a stronger position to be leaders in long-term competitiveness and innovation in the forest-products sector.

Meanwhile, we continue to work with the industry and the provinces to determine the shorter-term impacts of the U.S. ruling on the workers, communities and companies.

As the situation evolves, our government will continue to consider a number of options.