QUESTION PERIOD — Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Softwood Lumber Negotiations
June 5, 2019
Honourable senators, I’m proud to stand on the record of our previous government, which actually did a lot of the heavy lifting for both of those.
My question for the Government Leader concerns softwood lumber. Forestry companies in my province of British Columbia have been closing mills and cutting back on shifts as the industry continues to deal with the softwood lumber duties imposed in 2017 by the United States.
Last month, Tolko announced it was closing one sawmill and reducing shifts at another mill, resulting in 240 job losses. And on Monday, Canfor announced it will permanently close a sawmill, with a direct loss of 178 jobs. These cuts will be felt by families and communities across British Columbia.
Senator Harder, I have two questions. What will your government do to support those who have lost their jobs and help them get back to work? As well, what is your government doing to put an end to the roughly 20 per cent duties that have been slapped on our softwood lumber exports to the U.S. since 2017?
I thank the honourable senator for the question. It is one that has been raised in this chamber over the last number of weeks, and quite rightly, because this is a serious matter for the workers and the industry affected.
The honourable senator will know that the bilateral relationship with the United States, as a result of the efforts to renegotiate what we call NAFTA — and frankly, I still call it NAFTA because I can’t get my head around the other acronyms we should be using — has been the priority.
With the conclusion of those agreements and now being in the ratification process, and with the ending of steel and aluminum tariffs that were so detrimental to that sector and a barrier to proceeding with ratification, we’re now in a situation where the talks that have been ongoing throughout this period with respect to lumber are at the forefront. I want to assure all senators that the Government of Canada is doing all it can with respect to the bilateral negotiations in a spirit where a protectionist administration is seeking to use what the Government of Canada believes are unfair tools in its tariffs in this sector.
It is a sector where honourable senators will know the Government of Canada has put resources behind those affected, not only in lumber but also steel and aluminum, and will continue to do so to support Canadians engaged in our bilateral trade relationship to ensure that those jobs and industries work their way through this cyclical challenge in our bilateral relationship.
Senator Harder, in an answer last week, you indicated that the softwood lumber duties were not a priority in our economic relationship with the United States as compared with the renewal of NAFTA, or USMCA, and the lifting of the steel and aluminum tariffs. I know that wasn’t a very positive or sympathetic message to send to our forestry industry at a time when mills in my province, as I said, are closing and workers are losing jobs.
If I may, in your response to my first question, you said now that we’re nearing the end, this will become a priority. Will you confirm that this government will make the resolution of the softwood lumber a priority at this time?
Senator, I thank you for your question, but I believe it’s a mischaracterization of what I have said in the past. It ought to be obvious that in the face of a demand for the renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement, the so-called NAFTA, that framework agreement has to have high priority in the bilateral — in this case, trilateral — relationships to assure the common economic space of North America has a predictable framework for the economic relationship. That does not mean that the Government of Canada has not, throughout this period, raised the bilateral issues, whether they be lumber or other cross-border issues, with the Americans. But they are caught up in the larger discussions and negotiations.
The immediacy and the inappropriateness from the Canadian government’s view of the imposition of tariffs, particularly using the national security clause, which the Trump administration did with respect to trade and aluminum tariffs, was obviously an immediate and highly challenging issue to manage and has successfully concluded, for which the Government of Canada and the industry affected are grateful. That leaves this issue as obviously an ongoing irritant in the bilateral relationship, one that is a central focus in the bilateral economic relationship.
