The government of British Columbia has announced plans to institute a “stumpage deferral program that keeps the lights on” for Canada’s softwood lumber producers, who continue to maintain massive excess capacity that has been devastating for US softwood lumber companies and workers. BC’s latest subsidy program will effectively inject between USD 124 million to USD 242 million of liquidity into the coffers of BC sawmills over the next 11 months. …”Canada is not entitled to the U.S. market, especially when it engages in unfair trade practices and maintains its disruptive levels of excess lumber capacity that it then dumps into the U.S. market,” explained van Heyningen, adding that “political attacks on the President’s trade policies backed by Canada First organizations in the United States will not help address the true causes of the housing affordability problem, such as the cost of land, regulatory costs, labor costs, and homebuilder profitability rates.”