Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to raise again the question on the softwood lumber industry in Canada. I raised it several months ago. It is now even more urgent since the September 4 decision by the U.S. department of commerce to impose a 19.3% countervail charge against the softwood lumber industry.
The industry is hurting very dramatically right now because of this incredible countervail charge. Many jobs are being lost and businesses are closing. Today I met with members of the Canadian Lumber Remanufacturers Alliance. Because of the nature of their business they are hurting more than others. They are a value added industry, which means that the countervail is charged not only on the price of raw material, not only on the mill gate price, but on the border ready price, after the value added, after the labour and after the Canadian content has been put on. It results in a doubling of duty for the Canadian Lumber Remanufacturers Alliance members.
It is extremely serious for them. The impact will mean closures and failures in the industry. They are seeking an exemption in the short term. They are seeking a long term resolution to resolve this ongoing issue which pops up every five years. The industry has to go through tremendous turmoil and aggravation. They want it resolved, as does the entire industry.
Two weeks ago I had the honour of accompanying the right hon. member for Calgary Centre to a meeting. We met with the vice-president of the United States about this very issue. We informed him of our concerns and also of the intention of new British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell to reconsider their marketing approach, which has been part of the excuse used by the U.S. industry to cause the government to impose these countervail charges and anti-dumping charges that are still pending.
We provided the vice-president with material given to us by Premier Campbell which indicated that they have the intention of moving toward a more market driven pricing initiative or regime. He welcomed this initiative and he was very encouraged by it. He and his officials acknowledged that this would help remove the excuses and the tools that the U.S. industry uses to pry the government into imposing these taxes.
We want to applaud the premier of British Columbia for these efforts. We encourage him to move ahead toward a more market driven price as he has proposed. We think that after these consultations with the Americans, by moving to a more market driven pricing schedule many of the excuses used by the Americans would disappear. The administration would then move to resolve the issue and move to a free trade regime.
At this very important time, Canadian officials from the department and also from industry are meeting with American officials. I ask the hon. parliamentary secretary, in these discussions with the U.S. department, is the government also working with the government of British Columbia to help move them toward a more market driven price regime for their raw materials?