Friday, July 31, 2020, Afternoon — Committee A
I'll try to be more direct in my answers if the member can cut down on his preamble to his questions, because obviously if the preamble includes inaccuracies, I have to ensure the record is corrected on that. So in that regard, we do modelling. We did modelling. When the member says we did no economic analysis…. We do modelling. We did it for the fee-in-lieu changes. We did it for the waste changes. We did it for the fibre recovery zone changes. We did it for the lumber-based stumpage changes. All in connection to the coast forest sector revitalization initiative. Admittedly, the analysis, the modelling, is only as good as the data that we have. In some cases, we have good data. In some cases, we rely on industry to provide us with that data. As I outlined, when they don't do that, we implement with what we have and then refine as they become more forthcoming with their data. Any kind of changes or delays to our implementation schedule or to refinement of these policies has been in we implement with what we have and then refine as they become more forthcoming with their data. Any kinds of changes or delays to our implementation schedule or to refinement of these policies has been in response to market conditions. Of course, we're very attuned to that and the market conditions that impact industry, so any of the changes that have occurred have been in response to that. As far as the manufactured forest products, act amendments, we've been in discussion with industry since 2017 on those, so no surprises that we were contemplating the changes. The regulation addresses specifically the level of manufacturing required in the province, which is something we have control over. That regulation will be in place September 3, but not where that product goes to. We have no jurisdiction over where a forest manufacturer will send that product to. We control what we can control, which is the level of manufacturing required in the province before that product is exported. We have had consultation with many of the groups that the member referenced and in connection with that. That's why we delayed — because of market conditions — the implementation until September 30. But the requirement…. The question was: is this targeting, specifically, exports to specific countries? No, the level of manufacturing required in the province is something we can set. Where that product actually goes is up to the marketing branches of the various companies.
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