Mr Simard echos the plight of all levels of governments across Canada. When will we stop them from using our money to provide profit for our corporations.

We who are the tax payers are thrown a few crumbs to keep us from a mass revolt. These corporations feel that because they pay the wages to their workers it is the worker tax dollars that must keep our country afloat.

Maybe its time we had a good dose of NDP to show them how to use our money.

Cheers

What a dolt. The correlation between the export tax and the mill closures is a coincedence at best. The actual cost to the mills decreased when the export tax went in compared to the CVD/AD duties. Plus at least the export tax stays in Canada. It doesnt take a whole lot of research to see that the stumpage fees have traditionally been to low, especially in BC. This essentially means that taxpayers are subsidizing the lumber industry. Taxpayers footing the bill to keep jobs is not an effective way to run an economy. It just doesnt work.

I especially like the last part where it says throwing a bunch of money at the problem will fix it.

Bottom line is that low productivity means that no one will invest here. Protectionist schemes like an export tax on raw logs appeal to the masses, but rarely work (infact, if someone has an example of protectionism raising the standard of living in a nation, I would love to hear it).

The government does not exist to fix all problems. If you dont like multi-national control of our resources then start a business that can compete. Having complete control over resources doesnt matter when it takes billions in investment to get to them. Who do you propose this money is supposed to come from if we dont allow corporations in? Oh right, the government. Reality is that government lack the ability or mandate to invest in projects like these. I know I dont want my tax dollars being used to create another inefficient crown corp.

The bottom line is that if all these Corps are just gobbling up government handouts and making money hand over fist then we should invest in these Corps. That helps keep the money in Canada and the ownership Canadian. Its not the governments problem or place to invest for us.

If you dont like the YANKEES, then find some new customers.. Anyone who thinks we have not been dumping lumber in the USA since the 1950's is living in a dream world.

All Canadians do is whine and complain, and then run to the Government for a hand out.

Some of us will have to get out of the forest industry and try our hand at something else.

We created this problem by producing more cheap lumber than the market could handle, add on a slump in the housing market and there you have it.

Dear Yamchargers

You say the actual cost to the mills decreased when the export tax went in compared to the CVD/AD duties. If you were to look at the whole picture you would realize you are dead wrong.

What you fail to point out is the fact that they were illegal tariffs being collected by the United States while Canadians continued to win at NAFTA and WTO tribunals, one after another, after another. The money eventually would have been paid back regardless of the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement according to U.S. lawyers that were involved in the dispute.

“Four billion was given back to the Canadian forest industry” out of the five billion owed.

Unfortunately the Harper government generously gave one billion dollars to the United States as a reward for the misery they caused Canadians leaving them with a very healthy nest egg to use against us in future disputes which already started happening.

Through this deal Canadians were forced to waive their rights negotiated in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Millions in legal fees were lost when more than thirty existing legal actions by Canadian forest Companies were terminated and become ineligible to be re-filed. The deal has also encouraged and increased the export of round wood by excluding it from export charges.

I agree the government does not exist to fix all problems but it sure caused a heck of a lot of problems by signing this deal.

You are clearly contradicting yourself when on one hand you say that stumpage fee taxes are to low and on the other you say we shouldn’t add export taxes on raw logs being shipped out of the country, along with Canadian jobs.

If your looking for an example of protectionism raising the standard of living in a nation, I can name some right-off-the-bat, Poland, Argentina, Sweden and many more.

No one is saying we shouldn’t play ball with multi-national corporations. What is being suggested here is that forest dependent communities should be part of the game and rightfully so.

I also don’t agree with your statement that the correlation between the export tax and the mill closures is a coincidence at best. Many of the mill closures are partially blamed on the 15% export taxes by the industry itself.

Giving complete control of our resources to multi-national corporations is like giving them complete control of your quality of life which won’t be much by the time they get done with you. Most believe in one God only, “the almighty dollar” and would be quite satisfied with giving you a bowl of rice a day after a back-busting 12 hour shift.

The resources belong to the people, not to the corporations that have been given the privilege of developing them for financial gain. They don’t process or export our resources simply because they have big hearts.

In my opinion Mr. Simards suggestions are well worth considering.

Analyst are saying there will be a huge global demand for forest products in the years ahead. Now is the time for the Canadian government to pull up their socks, get smart and do the right thing. What they are doing now is obviously not working.

The way we elect governments is flawed in that it encourages the extremism of party power over the people. Big corporations and unions control all the main political parties and those that belong to them.

We need a system that allows distinguished independents or independent affiliated politicians elected to our legislatures. This way we the people can again be represented in our struggles against the corpocracy that we now live in.

I support the BCSTV voting process because it is the only (transferable ballot) process that allows for the... voter to bi-pass the party choice of lesser evils... in favor of those that have integrity to the citizens values over those of the corporation.

The only vote of mine that will ever count IMO is my vote in support of the BCSTV process in our provincial election in 2009. If it passes I will then live in a democratic province... if it fails I will never vote again because my vote won't count anyways.

As i repeat at every chance CARBON TAX.If we double or triple the carbon tax on any logs moved out a forest district.This encouages the mills to do buisness locally plus Mr Cambell would come good on the we have to find new ways to do business.

There is an excellent book by Daowei Zhang - suggested reading for forestry professional's people with a strong forest economics background. The Pain is not unique to BC.