Panel data provided by Madison's Canadian Lumber Reporter.

White House Has the Way but not the Will on Softwood Lumber Tariffs

By Ben Meisner

US Ambassador David Wilkins says you can’t listen to the media when it comes to how Canadians feel about the US. 

He was responding to a question dealing with the matter of the soft wood lumber tariffs. 

He took the opportunity to quickly turn the tables on the reporter and in fact blame him and his fellow comrades for the feelings by Canadians that we are being sold down the road by the USA in the lumber issue. He of course didn’t take the time to go out onto the street and talk to the people of this province about the trade barriers being thrown up by the US; instead it was a slick way of trying to turn the story around so it appeared that all was well. 

If it were, then the lumber coalition in the USA would be saying that all of the wood being sold into the States hit hard by Katrina, would be exempt of the tariffs, but no, he wouldn’t even suggest the idea, meaning that he has been handed his marching orders on this issue from the President. 

Instead, we will have the last laugh in the matter because there will be a lot of wood required to re build those areas hit hard in the southern states and a goodly portion will need to come from here. 

So those people who need a break the most in the US, those poor souls who suffered the loss of their homes and family possessions, will be subjected to the whims of the US lumber coalition. No breaks, just more profit for the people who claim they have the American people at heart. 

It is an example of just how these people are being viewed at the White house , because if George Bush wanted to save the people of the region several thousand dollars on every home that they rebuild, he could do it with the simple stroke of a pen , and without spending one single dime of the taxpayers money. 

I’m Meisner, and that, is one mans opinion.

 

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