Doherty Urges ‘Strong Leadership’ on Softwood File
Prince George, B.C. – Cariboo-Prince George Conservative MP Todd Doherty has weighed in on the softwood anti-dumping duties imposed on Canadian softwood producers by the U.S. yesterday.
The preliminary anti-dumping rates imposed were: Canfor 7.72 per cent, Resolute 4.59 per cent, Tolko 7.53 per cent, West Fraser 6.76 per cent and 6.87 per cent for ‘all others.’ 
The rates are in addition to the preliminary countervailing duties imposed in April and result in a combined duty rate ranging from 26.75 per cent to 30.88 per cent for B.C. producers.
“Canadian forestry workers deserve stability and predictability from their government, but Liberal inaction has put whole communities that rely on the lumber industry at risk,” he said in a prepared statement.
“Our small and medium sized producers cannot afford to wait out a costly dispute with the World Trade Organization that could take years to resolve. The Liberals have pitted one region against another forcing some provinces to appoint their own US envoys and setting their own defensive and offensive positions.”
He adds: “By not immediately intervening, the Prime Minister is once again proving that he is not interested in standing up for the Canadian forestry jobs from coast-to-coast-to coast.”
Doherty is a member of his party’s Taskforce on Softwood Lumber.
Comments
Screw waiting for the feds to act time to adopt Christ Clark’s plan to impose a carbon tax on the US coal that is exported out of BC. As there are no American west coast export option we will have them by the nads. Trump on the stump bragged how he will save jobs in the coal industry….the tax will make it uneconomical to export through Canada and put the pressure on the coal mines like the duties and anti dumping have done to our lumber industry.
Losing exports of over 6 million tons a year will get their attention in short order.
I agree 100%. It should have been the first piece of legislation put forward and passed by all parties. The power grab can wait until this export carbon tax on thermal coal, because the provincial economy is in trouble if they do nothing and legislative options have to wait until after a fresh election. If the ndp and greens voted that down out of crass leadership it would make it official that they have no interest in supporting rural communities in BC.
This should be priority number one for all BC MLA’S IMO.
So let us say that the US will stop shipping thermal coal to their pacific rim clients. How exactly will that help the BC economy if its coal port gets less business as a result?
They don’t have any other port on the west coast that will take their coal. They will pay the carbon tax and it will impact the competitive advantage they have through price per BTU. This will make replacement fuels more competitive with American exported thermal coal and make BC LNG a cleaner more financially competitive option.
It doesn’t effect the BC coal as ours is metallurgical so has no replacement option and thus no carbon tax. Alberta would be the collateral damage with their thermal coal exports.
At $50 per ton and 6-million tons export per year the proposed export tax on American coal is not even a third of what the Americans are charging us for our softwood lumber tariffs. Its a love tap more than anything, but it sends a clear message that unfair trade actions have consequences.
Horgy baby is going to fix it all by going down and having a fireside chat with the Trumpster himself, don’t you worry
What does Docordy or Christy Crunch have to do with free trade? They dont know which side is up.
Cheers
I don’t think we’ll ever be in a position to have the US by the nads. Maybe on a singular issue or two, but when it comes to the bigger picture (which is what we should worry about if we decide to provoke a trade war), we simply couldn’t sustain any type of prolonged response.
I’m sure there are factions down there that would love nothing more than to watch us destroy more of our own economy, with nothing left but a moral victory to show for it.
This is a situation where we’re choosing between bad options. Anything not well thought out could make things far worse.
I disagree. That is a defeatist mindset. We are their largest export market and the largest export market for 34 states most all of which were Trump states. Our exports to them are mostly energy that isn’t easily replaced. A trade war with America hurts them far more than Canada if we start to restrict their imports through retaliatory trade actions… I would start with the duty free exemptions to stem cross boarder shopping and help the Canadian retail industry.
ht tp://theprovince.com/business/loonies-dive-driving-down-cross-border-shopping-traffic-and-has-washington-state-businesses-getting-creative
No need to stem cross border shoppers. The drop in the value of the loonie has already done that.
I watched the number of BC license plates in Bellingham and Burlington shopping malls drop dramatically between 2014 and 2016. Costco in Bellingham has a milk refrigeration room about as large as the vegetable refrigeration room in the Costco PG store. People stocked up a whole shopping cart full.
Great idea to take away the duty free exemptions. Right now even with exchange Canadians pay 30% – 50% more for the same product in Canada as compared to the USA. Just maybe the reason for cross border shopping is the cost of goods being cheaper south of the border. It is bad enough the way Canadian retails stick it to the public without giving them further incentive to attack our wallets.
DO not forget, when a country has 10 times as many shoppers buying the same types of goods as we do in Canada, there is an order of magnitude in return on production capacity investment we do not have in Canada.
The US will virtually always beat us because of that. We have a much greater need to sell our products to them than they have to sell products to us.
Couple of comments on this:
– the forest industry representatives and BC politicians have consistently stated that the federal government is providing good leadership on this file. It’s too important to play political games with and Doherty should get on side on this issue and focus his criticism on areas where the Liberals show real weakness.
– a trade war or retaliatory actions by Canada will hurt both parties. There will be no winners.
– the course of action that will work once again is years of litigation followed by a negotiated solution after Canada wins in court.
There are no quick or simple solutions to this complex problem, Doherty’s comments notwithstanding.
It’s also worth noting that the Americans arguments are not completely without merit.
CL
Very much agree.
Doherty is doing a good job, but this tactic shows those who are far closer to the industry than he is doe not help his credibility.
The word inaction easy easy to blurt out. It needs some explanation on exactly where the inaction is in a two party negotiation process where the other party may be the one with inaction.
Difficult to negotiate with oneself.
Tell us how the Conservatives would handle it. Better still, tell us how the Conservatives fared in the last softwood lumber negotiations.
Trudeau could back the Clark carbon tax on thermal coal for starters.
From ht tp://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2016/06/29/joint-statement-prime-minister-canada-and-president-united-states-softwood-lumber
Negotiations 2015 – 2017
Key Events/Announcements
March 10, 2016: Prime Minister Trudeau and President Obama meet in Washington, DC
The Leaders agreed that the United States Trade Representative and the Canadian Minister of International Trade will intensively explore all options and report back within 100 days on the key features that would address this issue.
June 29, 2016: Joint Statement Trudeau and Obama
Canada and the U.S. met several times in 2016, at both the political leadership level, and the negotiator level.
June 29, 2016: B.C. Statement
October 12, 2016: Statement from Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman
February 14, 2017: Premier Christy Clark names David Emerson B.C. Trade Envoy to the United States
March 8, 2017: Statement from Special Envoy David Emerson
—————————————————
The election of T changed the whole political and negotiation climate.
“T” referring to Trump’s new self identification.
Justin Trudeau still uses his full name …. LOL
When Mulroney (a Conservative) mismanaged and gave in to demands to have the Softwood Lumber Agreement excluded from the new NAFTA the stage was set for the years of harassment against Canada! Doherty should point fingers where they ought to be pointed!
No other place wants to have their town destroyed by coal dust, I think BC should have a carbon tax so high they quit using our port anyway.
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