In light of a recent update to duties on Canadian softwood lumber, the NDP鈥檚 natural resources critic said he hopes to see action to alleviate the potential impacts on jobs.
South Okanagan - West Kootenay MP Richard Cannings said the NDP is 鈥渄isappointed, (but) perhaps not totally surprised鈥� that the U.S. is continuing their tariffs on Canadian lumber. He added there is some relief that the rates have been reduced for most lumber firms.
鈥淲e were thinking that perhaps they would bring in just a quota system. Say, restricting the Canadian exports to 28 per cent of the American market,鈥� Cannings said. 鈥淭hey would rather have that than the tariffs because they could sell their product for, obviously, less in the states and compete more easily.鈥�
Related: U.S. adds another border tax to B.C. lumber
Because of the slightly lowered duties on the lumber, Cannings said the U.S. may be starting to see Canada has a stronger hand in the dispute than they initially thought. But while the larger lumber firms could likely weather the storm, he said he is worried about smaller mills, and the people they employ.
鈥淭he one fortunate thing, I guess you could say, for the industry is that lumber prices are very high, and so they can still sell, with these tariffs, and still make money to get through,鈥� Cannings said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the little, family-run mills that might have trouble in this situation, so we鈥檙e looking at that.鈥�
Cannings said he would like to see programs put in place for workers in the softwood lumber industry to help tide them over in the case of lost business due to the dispute.
鈥淎 lot of federal money went into helping oil and gas workers when the crisis there hit,鈥� Cannings said. 鈥淏ut we haven鈥檛 seen that, yet, in the forest sector. So we鈥檙e still waiting and watching, hoping that the federal government will really convince the Americans that we need to solve this.鈥�
Related: U.S. ambassador 鈥榦ptimistic鈥� about softwood talks
Cannings鈥� own bill on the issue is expected to go to debate in the next month, he said. Introduced in the spring, Cannings鈥� bill would have the federal government look more closely at softwood lumber when constructing federal buildings.
鈥淭hat would get us away from this reliance on the American market that we have, so we鈥檒l see how that goes,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have companies like Structurlam that are really ahead of the curve on some of these tall, wood buildings, and that鈥檚 what this bill is trying to support.鈥�
Related: Penticton鈥檚 Structurlam continues to rise
Though Bill C-354 has yet to be debated, Cannings said he has seen some support from some of the Liberals he has spoken to in Parliament.
鈥淚 think it could be a fairly popular bill, and I鈥檓 hoping it will go through,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 some push back from people that have a lot of steel making in their riding.鈥�
Related: Horgan to talk softwood in Washington
That said, Cannings explained the bill wasn鈥檛 intended to prefer wood over other materials, but rather to give wood more consideration than it has had in the past, with wood largely on the wayside in major construction projects in recent decades.
鈥淪ome of the concrete people are very much on board with that. They think they can compete with that,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 just want them to consider that, and make the choice based on the lifetime cost and the greenhouse gas emissions.鈥�
@dustinrgodfrey
dustin.godfrey@pentictonwesternnews.com
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