In order to understand what has led up to the inevitable duties that will probably be coming from the United States I suggest… Ben Parfitt provides critical information that helps under this rather complex agreement. In the fall of 2006, the Canadian and U.S. governments ended a prolonged trade dispute by signing the Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA), a deal they said would bring greater certainty to the cross-border lumber trade. …Under the new deal, $4 billion — 80 per cent — of the duties collected by the U.S. on Canadian lumber shipments were returned to Canada. The federal government then reimbursed individual Canadian forest companies based on the duties they had paid,” Parfitt wrote. …In conclusion the Parfitt described how the SLA has served to stimulate B.C. forest company investment in the U.S. at the expense of the province’s forest industry workers and rural resource communities.