Mr. Speaker, thousands of Canadians work in the forest industry. This government has failed them by allowing U.S. customs today to end Canada-U.S. free trade on two more types of forest products, reclassifying them into the softwood lumber agreement.
Lumber producers in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta will be hurt. B.C. alone produces 61% of Canada's softwood exports. A Vancouver forestry consultant says this change will cost 1,000 jobs in B.C. alone.
However, at the World Wood Summit in Chicago on May 19, a world forestry analyst pointed out that the whole deal was based on the false claim that Canadian forest products were not being fairly exported, a claim not supported by share prices of Canadian lumber companies. Instead, and I quote, “In my view the trade dispute is all about politics and has nothing to do with `fair' trade”.
The Liberal government must not only challenge this ruling, but finally have the intestinal fortitude to stand up and fight for the people in the forestry industry in Canada.