Ravi Parmar

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s forests minister says he expects billions in additional federal support for the timber sector if future trade talks with the United States don’t benefit the softwood lumber industry. Ravi Parmer says BC will use every opportunity to remind Ottawa that the pending renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico-Agreement on trade, better known as CUSMA, must include forestry. If it doesn’t, he says the province expects Ottawa to double or even triple the more than $2 billion in supports it has provided the sector nationwide since last August. Parmar says federal negotiators “must recognize that if they are unsuccessful” in addressing US duties and tariffs on timber, BC will need help. …He says Ottawa has been a strong partner so far and he is optimistic that the federal government will address CUSMA in a way that includes forestry.