As the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber agreement expired Monday, NDP leader Tom Mulcair said his government would do a better job at the trade table.
Mulcair called Conservative leader Stephen Harper's approach "last minute," also taking the chance to criticize what he's called the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership deal.
"We're in an extension period of one year and that's not a good way to plan long term," said Mulcair of the current softwood lumber deal, which will remain in effect one year after Monday's expiry date.
"We would have been on this for a prolonged time because we know the importance of it for the region and, far more importantly, for jobs in the region and families in the region," said Mulcair in a phone interview with The Citizen from downtown Abbotsford on his way to Saskatoon.
Mulcair was canvassing on Vancouver Island over Thanksgiving weekend, where he is hoping to gain seats.
"We want reliability and predictability for businesses and that's the approach we would take."
After five years of court proceedings, the 2006 agreement returned $4 billion to Canadian producers of $5 billion in duties collected by the U.S.
More than half of that money went to B.C. companies, which represent 55 per cent of Canada's lumber exports to the U.S.
When asked what specifically an NDP government would do to secure a renewal, he said "we would sit down with the province and with industry and we would make sure that the concerns of both were met in this new agreement."
B.C. Premier Christy Clark told the legislature last week the U.S. has not been willing to start talks.
"When the new federal government is formed later this month, this is the first issue I'll be raising with the new prime minister," Clark said in a statement, which noted the province had been working with the federal government to try for an extension or renewal.
Mulcair also criticized the Conservative record negotiating with First Nations around land settlement as "a very belligerent approach."
Canada needs to follow a nation-to-nation approach, noting the parameters around duty to consult and consent exist on a spectrum, especially in light of the landmark Tsilhqot'in decision, which deals with indigenous rights to unceded territory.
The key is dealing in good faith he said, citing Bill Gallagher's book Resource Rulers documenting more than 100 legal cases where First Nations have won in the realm of resource development.
"What he's essentially saying is 'Wake up. Start presuming title, start behaving differently,'" said Mulcair.
"If I can't get people to do it through their hearts or their minds, I'll get them to do it through their wallets and explain to Canadians... the future of resource development requires a whole new era in our relations with our First Peoples and that's what the NDP will bring in."
The NDP indigenous platform, unveiled last week, committed to creating and chairing a cabinet-level committee ensuring "that every decision that our government makes respects treaty rights, inherent rights and Canada's international obligations."
He suggested that respect was missing in a recent Fort St. John. debate where Prince George-Peace River incumbent Bob Zimmer suggested joblessness was a factor with missing and murdered aboriginal women - something Mulcair called "ignominious."
"I find that a low point, frankly, in statements I've heard from candidates in this campaign," he said. "Lord knows your region certainly deserves better than you've got right now with the Conservatives and we saw that again in the debate."
Zimmer said during the debate, "One of the major drivers of missing and murdered aboriginal women is lack of economic activity or simply put, a lack of a job."
Zimmer clarified his comments during a debate in Prince George Thursday but reiterated the issue has been studied enough.
Mulcair disagreed and has pledged to call an inquiry within 100 days of forming government.
"It's simply false to claim that anything that's been done up until this point has taken a full look at the tragic phenomenon of 1,200 missing and murdered indigenous women," he said.
And on Harper's comment that most of those cases had been solved?
"I think Mr. Harper is showing woeful ignorance of a very complex issue."
Mulcair also gave a dig to Prince George Cariboo Conservative candidate Todd Doherty who suggested during Thursday's debate that he had read the full TPP deal, then backtracked saying he'd read the summary.
"If Mr. Harper thinks this is such a good deal, high time that he provided all the details," said Mulcair. "Despite the fact that the Conservative candidate said he had read the whole deal, of course he hadn't, because the whole deal hasn't been released."
Even so, Mulcair said he knows enough to reject it.
"We do have a lot of information and what we do know provides us more than enough information to know that it will costs tens of thousands of jobs, it will lead to higher drug costs, it will make it more difficult to protect the environment, more difficult for you to protect your confidential personal information."
Mulcair plugged Trent Derrick, the NDP's Cariboo-Prince George candidates, in the conversation.
"Trent Derrick is going to be an amazing member of parliament, somebody very respectful," said Mulcair, who had a Prince George connection in an aunt who lived her for 45 years before moving to Penticton.
