Les Leyne

The more lifelines governments throw to the sinking forest industry, the more tangled it gets in the quicksand of US trade policy. …Responding to a powerful lobby group, the US wants to suffocate the Canadian forest industry and choke off all lumber imports, to the benefit of US timber firms. They are unlikely to be able to fully meet demand, but they’ll make a fortune trying, because shortages cause price hikes. The US Lumber Coalition has been successful convincing politicians that Canadian lumber is a threat to the American way of life. It orchestrated billions of dollars worth of penalties stretching back decades. It is now engaged in the endgame — eliminating the imports completely. …Monday’s softwood summit is an example of how vicious the circular argument gets. …It was telling that the Council of Forest Industries concentrated on a number of provincial policy changes that are needed, not just emergency federal help.