Sen. Jeanne Shaheen

WHITEFIELD — The ties that bind New Hampshire and the Great White North are strong, despite the current controversy over the North American Free Trade Agreement. One-third of Granite Staters have a Franco-Canadian heritage, and 40,000 Granite State jobs are directly linked to Canada. That conclusion emerged Oct. 27 during the New Hampshire-Canada Business Development Forum at the Mount View Grand Hotel, which included discussion of North American Free Trade Agreement. …Now under fire by President Donald Trump for being unfair to the U.S., NAFTA, said Shaheen, “did not just happen,” nor should the U.S. unilaterally withdraw from it. …The discussions at that table included the U.S.-Canada dispute over lumber. …Ryckman said the issue is between lumber mills on either side of the border, “not the land owners or the logs.”