New Brunswick’s forestry policies are back in the political spotlight as U.S. duties on softwood begin to hit the province’s mill towns. For a second straight day, Progressive Conservative MLA Jake Stewart called on the government to force J.D. Irving Ltd. to start work on a a new mill in Doaktown, a project the company says it’s postponing because of the American tariffs announced this fall. Irving responded by calling Stewart’s comments “self-serving grandstanding.” Meanwhile, PC Leader Blaine Higgs wants the Liberals to revisit a 2015 report by Auditor-General Kim MacPherson that the U.S. industry used to argue New Brunswick mills are unfairly subsidized and should be punished. “I think if you have a dispute like that … we need to dig and get under the hood and understand the basis for how these conflicting opinions are being made,” Higgs said.