The U.S. government’s decision to impose duties on Canadian imports – as negotiations on a new softwood lumber agreement drag on – has caught the attention of B.C. politicians and our local member of Parliament.
The U.S. Department of Commerce said it investigated five companies and assessed preliminary countervailing duties that run as high as 24.12 per cent.
West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky MP Pam Goldsmith-Jones, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of International Trade, is in Asia this week where she’s been meeting with forest products importers in Vietnam, Singapore and Brunei.
She told Coast Reporter: “The forest products industry is important to Canada, to Canadian workers and to their families… I am working hard to ensure that Canadian forest product producers have access to marketplaces around the world… Our government is committed to the forest industry and the communities that rely on it. There are important opportunities in the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] region in particular. We want to ensure that our producers can access importers and manufacturers here.”
BC Liberal leader Christy Clark interrupted her re-election campaign to hold a cabinet meeting to discuss the situation. She vowed, “We are going to fight them to the last breath, to make sure that we support B.C. forest workers.”
On Wednesday Clark announced that she’s asking Ottawa to ban the shipment of thermal coal – including U.S. shipments – through British Columbia, “sending a strong message that B.C. and Canada will protect the interests of workers in forestry and other sectors targeted by the Trump administration.”
NDP leader John Horgan and Green leader Andrew Weaver are criticizing Clark for not doing more to keep the U.S. from taking this step.
Horgan said he’s “disappointed that Christy Clark failed to make getting a deal a priority, and failed to lead British Columbia to a fair resolution on softwood lumber. She has not treated this issue with the urgency it deserves. Because of delay and inaction, thousands of B.C. workers now risk losing their jobs and their livelihoods.”
And Weaver said, “The provincial government should have ensured that B.C.’s interests were front and centre on softwood lumber. Sadly, we see today that they have failed. We needed leadership from Christy Clark before the tariffs were imposed, not afterwards. For the premier to now hold a special cabinet meeting frankly serves as political grandstanding and little else.”
