British Columbia lets market dictate timber fees, Canada says

By Brent Jang
The Globe and Mail
January 8, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States

Canada is defending provincial timber fees in hopes that a binational panel will compel the Trump administration to revoke punitive duties on Canadian softwood. British Columbia, Canada’s largest softwood exporter into the United States, operates a market-based system of setting fees for producers to harvest trees on Crown land, the Canadian government said. …British Columbia’s system means competitive auctions drive what the provincial government collects from lumber firms for rights to chop down trees, Canada said in an 82-page document, part of a series of papers submitted recently by Canada to the U.S. section of the NAFTA Secretariat during the appeal process. …”BCTS auctions cover approximately 20 per cent of the B.C. Crown standing timber supply for the year, with this 20 per cent chosen to be representative of the entire public timber supply,” Canada said.

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