START - Structural Timber and Applied Research Team’s Post

Transcript

Thank you, Kate. My name is Rick Jeffrey, I'm the CEO and President of the Canadian Wood Council. I too would like to thank everybody who is involved in this project. Was a year and a half of work Bentley or Derek? That's I think shows up in the report. I'm just going to pick up on a couple of themes in my colleagues spoke about earlier. I had the pleasure of going to Europe just before Christmas for a couple of weeks to visit all the mass timber manufacturers in Europe. See how they were doing it there and what they were doing. They've they've got about a 15 year head start on us. And so there was lots to learn from them. And what we did learn is that we're behind the curve. And so this road map is really going to help us with our competitiveness in a global sense. But more importantly, it's going to allow us to bring mass timber into the the challenges that are facing Canada here around net zero and the affordable housing crisis and so. But what we learned is that mass timber has a role to play in creating affordable, livable cities, towns, municipalities and communities in Canada. It can provide a low carbon and affordable housing solution. The market is in Canada's beginning to demand this and demand these low carbon options. And so the road map is going to give us the ability to have a structured way. To try and move our supply chain to start meeting that demand for that low carbon affordable housing and for low carbon construction in Canada is Derek Eaton mentioned and Kate highlighted. We have sustainable force here. We have a supply chain that's sophisticated. And so we're now on the cusp of being able to use this road map to drive more mass timber production and use in Canada. And so we look forward to working with the federal governments, the industry and our colleagues to drive this road map and see more mass timber in construction in Canada. Thank you.