Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty is calling on the federal Liberal government to take swifter action towards a negotiated settlement in the ongoing softwood lumber dispute with the United States.
Although confident Canada would emerge the winner if it took the dispute to litigation through the World Trade Organization, Doherty said Tuesday it would simply take too long, particularly for
the small and medium-sized lumber producers.
"We need to make sure that we are sitting down, we need to make sure that we are doing whatever we can to make sure we're not going to lose any further Canadian jobs," said Doherty, who co-chairs the Opposition Conservatives' softwood lumber taskforce.
A negotiated settlement was reached under the previous Harper government but it expired in 2015.
The Liberals have said they intend to "vigourously defend" the forest industry through litigation, although Prime Minister Trudeau said Tuesday he's confident a negotiated settlement is near.
Later the same day, Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland talks to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross multiple times a week and believes it is possible for a negotiated settlement to come prior to the start of NAFTA renegotiations in mid-August.
Canada has put an $867-million aid package on the table with loan guarantees and direct assistance to help companies innovate and expand their markets beyond the U.S. None of that money has flowed yet but Carr said it will start flowing soon.
Doherty contended the aid package is not good enough given the shaky northern B.C. economy.
"It is welcome, but more importantly we need new jobs and this isn't the time when we need to be facing uncertainty," Doherty said. "We're not having other projects approved, we don't see any other opportunities for our rural communities that are dependent on forestry for these type of skilled labour jobs."
Doherty made the comments a day after the United States announced anti-dumping tariffs on top of the counterveiling duties previously imposed. West Fraser will have the highest combined duties at 30.88 per cent, followed by Canfor at 27.98 per cent.
At 6.87 per cent on average, the anti-dumping tariffs came in under the 10 per cent analysts had predicted.
Continuing on the theme the Tories' B.C. caucus played up when they met in Prince George last week, Doherty said the looming NDP-Green alliance concerns him should it take power in B.C. in regard to the dispute.
He said the B.C. Liberals had shown "tremendous leadership on this file."
"I'm not sure we'll see the same in terms of effort and leadership with the new government. I don't have the same confidence that I do with our current provincial government," he said.
Nathan Cullen, the NDP MP in Skeena-Bulkley Valley said eliminating as many Canadian companies as possible is the main goal of the U.S. action. And he said there are already mills in his northern B.C. riding that can't afford the duty bills handed them by the U.S.
But Susan Yurkovich, CEO of the B.C. Lumber Trade Council, said layoffs and job cuts will be avoided for the most part until the U.S. government sets final duty rates later this year - unless lumber prices suffer a precipitous decline.
- with files from Canadian Press
