I really hope you'll tell the people in your riding that softwood lumber and the trade actions involved in softwood lumber have been going on for a very long time. We're not in a world where we can choose between perfection and what we have today. Perfection is just not out there. What is out there, if we don't have some kind of a negotiated settlement, is more litigation, more uncertainty, and possibly a broadening of this dispute.
Remember, the timber that is used to produce softwood lumber is also used to produce pulp and OSB; it is used in a range of products. If anybody thinks there is no scope for a broadening of the lumber dispute, they're just dead wrong--it's the same timber. If they can make the allegation about lumber, they can make it about OSB or about plywood.
That's the reality we face. And against that reality we've negotiated an agreement that under current market circumstances has no quota and no tax. It gets us over 80% of our money back, and of the roughly 20% that stays south of the border, half of that will go to initiatives that will be of benefit to the industry in North America, including the Canadian industry.
Is it a perfect deal? No. Do I think there's a perfect deal out there? No, I do not. I've been in this business long enough, and I think this is one of those deals that you might wish perfection was the alternative, but it isn't.