Mr. Speaker, the minister has created a vacuum in the softwood lumber talks in B.C. The so-called talks are drifting into proposals, demands and offers. I call this negotiation.
One B.C. industry participant is quoted as calling for a flat tax on lumber exports. The B.C. minister is left to deny that this is the direction. The so-called flat tax is a spin. It is essentially a shutdown tax. The expectation is that with low lumber prices Canadian producers would essentially shut down to keep inefficient U.S. producers in business. It is not even flat. A volume based tax with cyclical prices is the same as a variable percentage tax on value.
Unhappily we have been here before in 1985 and 1995. Will the minister bring order to chaos and call a national softwood lumber stakeholders meeting? It is overdue.