A reduction in punitive American duties on Canadian softwood lumber comes as little relief to B.C. producers as the underlying Canada-U.S. trade dispute continues to drag on, according to the B.C. Lumber Trade Council. …Kim Haakstad, interim president of the council added that the biggest challenge presented by the duties and tariffs is that it leaves wood producers “not really knowing what the cost would be when you make a product and then send it to market,” almost 10 years since the last Canada-U.S. softwood lumber agreement expired. …Haakstad said [the US] doesn’t produce enough lumber to meet demand for new U.S. homes, which makes the Commerce Department’s duties “unjustified and punitive,” and only serve to inflate construction costs for U.S. consumers. …In B.C., Haakstad said she was surprised that forestry hadn’t come up as an election issue until Wednesday when the NDP released campaign priorities for manufacturing and employment support. [Available with a subscription to the Vancouver Sun/Financial Post]