Softwood Agreement?
- Thread starter Hank C
- Start date
The softwood lumber industry in the U.S. runs mainly on Canadian logs. The "agreement", such as it is, would have been easier if our wonderful Premier had cut off the supply of raw logs to the competition. We should all alternately bend over, and kick each other in the backside. We are not only supplying raw logs, we are subsidising the American lumber industry. Get off your knees Harper, and for God's sake, clean yourself up.
#juan said:
Considering the government just said that they don't have the military resources to take part in any effort to relieve the genocide in Darfur, I doubt any more Canadian troops will be going to Iraq. I say "any more" because there are already two or three dozen Canadian soldiers serving with American units in Iraq, in fact the second in command of the Baghdad region anti-terror effort is a Canadian colonel.
I wouldn't mind Canadians helping out in Iraq, but Afghanistan comes first, and the Sudan should be next on our list iof concerns.
Trees oil and water.What's next? Can't be fish, thier already gone. FiveP you're slipping this topic belongs in the international politics thread. Or are we screwing ourselves?
:lol:
Re: The Sovereignty of Canada
While I am happy to see progress being made in terms of the issue of softwood lumber, this progress should not be made at the expense of the sovereignty of Canada, or the Provinces of Canada. While I would hope that this is not discovered to be the case, if it is, then I would hope that the Government of British Columbia plans on doing everything in its power to lobby the Government of Canada to remove itself from this agreement.
While I am happy to see progress being made in terms of the issue of softwood lumber, this progress should not be made at the expense of the sovereignty of Canada, or the Provinces of Canada. While I would hope that this is not discovered to be the case, if it is, then I would hope that the Government of British Columbia plans on doing everything in its power to lobby the Government of Canada to remove itself from this agreement.
MMMike said:
I'm not against lumber being an exception to NAFTA since the US can't keep up with our socialist ways in this particular industry, but not in such a hurry and not without calling a spade a spade. It is NOT a subsidy. we just cut the landed class out of this one.
#juan said:
You did see the ceremony in Khabul when the soldiers caskets were loaded, did you not? Pretty hard to keep that a secret, I would say. YOu have an overly pessimistic outlook. I recall no mention at all of putting more (we already had troops in Iraq, how do you think we got those peaceniks out) troops in Iraq. Do you?
(CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper notched his first cross-border triumph Thursday, announcing a tentative agreement to end the long-standing lumber trade war with the United States.
Harper apparently intervened personally with U.S. President George W. Bush when the deal showed signs of foundering this week on opposition from the Canadian lumber industry.
"There were discussions at the highest levels with the United States," International Trade Minister David Emerson said in an interview from Washington.
Emerson would not confirm Harper had a conversation with Bush.
"The prime minister played a major role in this, is all I will say," Emerson said.
Bush issued a statement late Thursday saying he was pleased the three-decade dispute was headed towards a settlement.
"This agreement shows how NAFTA partners can overcome differences and work together," said Bush, who helped fast-track the talks after a weekend call to Harper.
"The United States' close ties with our good friend and northern neighbour made this agreement possible. I applaud Prime Minister Harper's leadership in resolving this issue ..."
But the deal is far from done.
It will take weeks, if not months, to finalize and the lumber producers across Canada who will bear the brunt of its trade restrictions were showing little enthusiasm.
The proposed seven-year deal, endorsed by the four major lumber-producing provinces, calls for the lifting of punitive U.S. duties.
In return, Canada agrees to cap its share of the U.S. market via regional quotas, impose an export tax when North American lumber prices drop below certain levels and allow the Americans to keep a fifth of the duties - about $1 billion US - they have collected since May 2002.
The so-called framework worked out Tuesday almost collapsed after Ontario denounced it publicly as unfair to the province's lumber industry, and companies in Quebec and British Columbia also balked at its terms.
An amended package that improved Ontario and Quebec market shares and lessened a penalty seen as discriminatory against British Columbia was tabled Thursday morning.
Harper told the Commons the revised deal, reached after two days of intensive talks, benefits all lumber-producing regions in Canada.
"This, colleagues, is a good deal," he said. "It helps Canadian companies, communities and workers. The vast majority of Canada's softwood production have given us their support."
Specifically, the deal helps B.C. - Canada's dominant exporter - Quebec's border sawmills and keeps Atlantic Canadian lumber mills out of the trade fight, Harper said.
"Canada's bargaining position was strong, our conditions were clear, and this agreement delivers," he said. "This is what Canada wanted. This is what Canada got."
The opposition parties quickly attacked the deal. NDP Leader Jack Layton called it a "sellout," and Liberal Leader Bill Graham sarcastically said it was "a great day - for the American industry."
The Liberals also accused the Conservative government of flip-flopping on their position in the federal election campaign, when their platform demanded the U.S. abide by NAFTA rulings that vindicated Canada and return all of the $5 billion US in duties collected since May 2002.
But B.C. Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell, whose province accounts for 55 per cent of the $10-billion annual lumber exports going south, agreed to the package after some key changes.
"On balance, it's a reasonable deal for Canada and a good deal for British Columbia," said Premier Gordon Campbell.
"We think we've crafted a trade agreement that allows for different responses from different parts of the country. This is a fair trade agreement which will provide the stability we want."
Even Ontario, which had opposed an earlier leaked version of the agreement as too restrictive, changed its mind Thursday after the package was tweaked to give it a bigger share of the market.
"A lot of work went into negotiations that have led to this framework, and we have steadfastly defended Ontario's interests throughout the process," said Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay.
Quebec Premier Jean Charest also welcomed the deal after its market share was also adjusted.
"Throughout these negotiations, the Quebec government defended the province's interests and those of workers in the forestry sector and in outlying regions," he said in a statement.
Alberta, ranked fourth in production behind B.C., Quebec and Ontario, signed on reluctantly.
The U.S. Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, which launched four trade complaints against Canadian producers in 25 years and has demanded nothing less than an open market for Canadian timber, supported the managed-trade deal. Its members will get to keep half the $1 billion US in Canadian duty deposits staying in the United States.
"We applaud the tireless efforts of the Bush administration officials who negotiated a means of offsetting Canadian unfair lumber practices," said coalition chairman Steve Swanson.
Canadian industry support was less hearty.
"The B.C. Lumber Trade Council has given conditional support to the framework agreement ... pending a review of the final term sheet," the lumber lobby said in a release.
Council president John Allan said each company will have to crunch the numbers to see if the proposal works for them.
"Agreements of this nature are rarely perfect and the complexities of the issues will always make unqualified support elusive," Allan said.
Carl Grenier, executive vice-president of the Free Trade Lumber Council, said the group still opposes the deal's terms.
But its B.C. co-chair, David Gray, said while no one is particularly thrilled with the deal, "it does represent a turn-the-page, get-on-with-the-future type of thing."
"My sense is we have three to four months ahead of us of real, hard block-tackle work in terms of trying to hammer out the details," said Gray, who operates a lumber mill in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey.
"We've got overall architecture but we've got a whole lot of stuff before we can call this a house."
B.C. Forests Minister Rich Coleman said a deal this complex is full of tradeoffs.
"You have enthusiasm in some sectors, you have ambivalence in others and you've got some people who are just sort of heaving a sigh of relief and saying we've finally got this done and now we can work within a deal for stability," he said.
Canfor Corp. (TSX:CFP), Canada's biggest lumber exporter, believes it can live with the package.
"It gives us a minimum seven years of certainty in which we can build up our business both in terms of current manufacturing, marketing and future growth without the uncertainty what the (countervailing duty) rate or the dumping rate is going to be, given that it changes every year," said Ken Higginbotham, vice-president of forestry and environment.
Critics, including the U.S. National Association of Home Builders which now expects higher prices for framing lumber, were prepared to condemn any package that trades away Canada's victories before NAFTA and WTO trade panels, which they hope will open the border to free trade in lumber.
But Higginbotham suggested that was unrealistic.
"It's their market place; we want in it," he said. "It just wasn't in the cards for us to get everything that we might have wanted."
Emerson, who said it could take 60 to 90 days to reach a final agreement, said Canada's lumber sector has "a diversity of interests.
"Getting a widespread, enthusiastic consensus in Canada is simply not possible," the former Canfor CEO said.
The parties were working towards a self-imposed deadline Thursday, the last day when the U.S. could challenge a NAFTA panel ruling that rejected claims Canadian lumber was subsidized.
The amended package was tabled just 15 minutes after the U.S. filed its appeal, but U - .S. officials said the appeal will be vacated once a final deal is signed.
-
(CP) -Some quotes on the softwood lumber deal:
"Canada's bargaining position was strong, our conditions were clear, and this agreement delivers. This is what Canada wanted. This is what Canada got. This, colleagues, is a good deal. ... It helps Canadian companies, communities and workers. The vast majority of Canada's softwood production have given us their support." - Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Commons.
-
"On balance, it's a reasonable deal for Canada and a good deal for British Columbia. We think we've crafted a trade agreement that allows for different responses from different parts of the country. This is a fair trade agreement which will provide the stability we want." - B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell in Victoria.
-
"A lot of work went into negotiations that have led to this framework, and we have steadfastly defended Ontario's interests throughout the process. While this arrangement would require each jurisdiction to make some concessions, Ontario got a critical element - a more reasonable share of softwood exports." - Ontario Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay.
-
"We look forward to working closely with (the U.S. Bush administration) to ensure that an agreement is administered and enforced effectively to establish a fair competitive playing field for U.S. sawmills, mill workers and family timberland owners across the United States." - Steve Swanson, chairman of the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, the main U.S. lobby group fighting Canadian lumber shipments to the American market.
-
"It's a deal Stephen Harper has negotiated in haste to prove to Canadians that he has a better relationship with the Bush administration than the Liberals. But what it amounts to is caving in and accepting less than what international trade bodies have ruled we are entitled to." - Ken Neumann, national director of the United Steelworkers union, which represents more than 55,000 workers in the Canadian forest industry.
-
"This agreement is an historic opportunity to resolve a long-standing dispute and end litigation that spans more than two decades. After multiple lawsuits without resolution we are now close to achieving what many thought would never happen." - outgoing U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Rob Portman at a news conference in Washington.
-
"Throughout these negotiations, the Quebec government defended the province's interests and those of workers in the forestry sector and in outlying regions. This agreement will benefit the Quebec economy as a whole." - Quebec Premier Jean Charest.
-
"This deal will enable the Quebec industry to recoup nearly $1 billion we've given the United States to get access to American markets over the last five years." - Quebec Natural Resources Minister Pierre Corbeil.
-
"The fact that there would be some disagreement is predictable. But having been pretty intimately involved in it for a long time, I know just how important some of those details are. I applaud the government for trying to find a deal, and let's say that this is good enough." - Frank McKenna, former Canadian ambassador to the United States.
-
"We and the Canadian industry ought to be skeptical. The domestic producers have had a significant leg up with the American government. They have controlled the importation of Canadian lumber." Jerry Howard, vice-president of the U.S. National Association of Home Builders.
-
"The agreement really does establish a fair, certain and long-term resolution to the softwood lumber dispute. It will not only see the revoking of duties but the return to Canadian lumber producers of at least $4 billion US of collected duties. This agreement is the result of the greatest show of determination in trade diplomacy, in my view, that North America has seen since the negotiation of the NAFTA agreement itself. We accomplished more in 80 days than any Canadian government has accomplished in the last decade." - Industry Minister David Emerson in Washington.
-
"There can be no question of Canada returning to a conventional bargaining table, as the U.S. ambassador has suggested. You don't negotiate after you've won. The issue is compliance. And achieving full compliance should be the objective of the prime minister." Stephen Harper in an address to the Conservative national caucus in Halifax on Sept. 7, 2005.
-
Highlights of the amended framework for a negotiated settlement to the Canada-U.S. softwood dispute obtained by The Canadian Press (elements changed from earlier draft in brackets):
-A cap on Canada's share of the U.S. lumber market based on regional average share of Canadian exports to U.S. during calendar years 2001-05 (revised from 2004-05).
-A sliding tax triggered when the North American market price for softwood lumber falls below $355 US per thousand board feet (changed from $360 US).
-Surge mechanism triggered if a region's exports exceed 110 per cent of allocated share in any one period, including penalty of 150 per cent of normal export tax (reduced from 200 per cent in initial draft).
-Return $4 billion US in punitive duties collected by U.S. Customs since May 2002; $1 billion stays in U.S., with half going to Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, the rest divided between joint North American lumber marketing initiatives and "meritorious initiatives" in U.S.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n0427114A.xml
Seems like a flip-flop on Harper's part.
Harper apparently intervened personally with U.S. President George W. Bush when the deal showed signs of foundering this week on opposition from the Canadian lumber industry.
"There were discussions at the highest levels with the United States," International Trade Minister David Emerson said in an interview from Washington.
Emerson would not confirm Harper had a conversation with Bush.
"The prime minister played a major role in this, is all I will say," Emerson said.
Bush issued a statement late Thursday saying he was pleased the three-decade dispute was headed towards a settlement.
"This agreement shows how NAFTA partners can overcome differences and work together," said Bush, who helped fast-track the talks after a weekend call to Harper.
"The United States' close ties with our good friend and northern neighbour made this agreement possible. I applaud Prime Minister Harper's leadership in resolving this issue ..."
But the deal is far from done.
It will take weeks, if not months, to finalize and the lumber producers across Canada who will bear the brunt of its trade restrictions were showing little enthusiasm.
The proposed seven-year deal, endorsed by the four major lumber-producing provinces, calls for the lifting of punitive U.S. duties.
In return, Canada agrees to cap its share of the U.S. market via regional quotas, impose an export tax when North American lumber prices drop below certain levels and allow the Americans to keep a fifth of the duties - about $1 billion US - they have collected since May 2002.
The so-called framework worked out Tuesday almost collapsed after Ontario denounced it publicly as unfair to the province's lumber industry, and companies in Quebec and British Columbia also balked at its terms.
An amended package that improved Ontario and Quebec market shares and lessened a penalty seen as discriminatory against British Columbia was tabled Thursday morning.
Harper told the Commons the revised deal, reached after two days of intensive talks, benefits all lumber-producing regions in Canada.
"This, colleagues, is a good deal," he said. "It helps Canadian companies, communities and workers. The vast majority of Canada's softwood production have given us their support."
Specifically, the deal helps B.C. - Canada's dominant exporter - Quebec's border sawmills and keeps Atlantic Canadian lumber mills out of the trade fight, Harper said.
"Canada's bargaining position was strong, our conditions were clear, and this agreement delivers," he said. "This is what Canada wanted. This is what Canada got."
The opposition parties quickly attacked the deal. NDP Leader Jack Layton called it a "sellout," and Liberal Leader Bill Graham sarcastically said it was "a great day - for the American industry."
The Liberals also accused the Conservative government of flip-flopping on their position in the federal election campaign, when their platform demanded the U.S. abide by NAFTA rulings that vindicated Canada and return all of the $5 billion US in duties collected since May 2002.
But B.C. Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell, whose province accounts for 55 per cent of the $10-billion annual lumber exports going south, agreed to the package after some key changes.
"On balance, it's a reasonable deal for Canada and a good deal for British Columbia," said Premier Gordon Campbell.
"We think we've crafted a trade agreement that allows for different responses from different parts of the country. This is a fair trade agreement which will provide the stability we want."
Even Ontario, which had opposed an earlier leaked version of the agreement as too restrictive, changed its mind Thursday after the package was tweaked to give it a bigger share of the market.
"A lot of work went into negotiations that have led to this framework, and we have steadfastly defended Ontario's interests throughout the process," said Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay.
Quebec Premier Jean Charest also welcomed the deal after its market share was also adjusted.
"Throughout these negotiations, the Quebec government defended the province's interests and those of workers in the forestry sector and in outlying regions," he said in a statement.
Alberta, ranked fourth in production behind B.C., Quebec and Ontario, signed on reluctantly.
The U.S. Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, which launched four trade complaints against Canadian producers in 25 years and has demanded nothing less than an open market for Canadian timber, supported the managed-trade deal. Its members will get to keep half the $1 billion US in Canadian duty deposits staying in the United States.
"We applaud the tireless efforts of the Bush administration officials who negotiated a means of offsetting Canadian unfair lumber practices," said coalition chairman Steve Swanson.
Canadian industry support was less hearty.
"The B.C. Lumber Trade Council has given conditional support to the framework agreement ... pending a review of the final term sheet," the lumber lobby said in a release.
Council president John Allan said each company will have to crunch the numbers to see if the proposal works for them.
"Agreements of this nature are rarely perfect and the complexities of the issues will always make unqualified support elusive," Allan said.
Carl Grenier, executive vice-president of the Free Trade Lumber Council, said the group still opposes the deal's terms.
But its B.C. co-chair, David Gray, said while no one is particularly thrilled with the deal, "it does represent a turn-the-page, get-on-with-the-future type of thing."
"My sense is we have three to four months ahead of us of real, hard block-tackle work in terms of trying to hammer out the details," said Gray, who operates a lumber mill in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey.
"We've got overall architecture but we've got a whole lot of stuff before we can call this a house."
B.C. Forests Minister Rich Coleman said a deal this complex is full of tradeoffs.
"You have enthusiasm in some sectors, you have ambivalence in others and you've got some people who are just sort of heaving a sigh of relief and saying we've finally got this done and now we can work within a deal for stability," he said.
Canfor Corp. (TSX:CFP), Canada's biggest lumber exporter, believes it can live with the package.
"It gives us a minimum seven years of certainty in which we can build up our business both in terms of current manufacturing, marketing and future growth without the uncertainty what the (countervailing duty) rate or the dumping rate is going to be, given that it changes every year," said Ken Higginbotham, vice-president of forestry and environment.
Critics, including the U.S. National Association of Home Builders which now expects higher prices for framing lumber, were prepared to condemn any package that trades away Canada's victories before NAFTA and WTO trade panels, which they hope will open the border to free trade in lumber.
But Higginbotham suggested that was unrealistic.
"It's their market place; we want in it," he said. "It just wasn't in the cards for us to get everything that we might have wanted."
Emerson, who said it could take 60 to 90 days to reach a final agreement, said Canada's lumber sector has "a diversity of interests.
"Getting a widespread, enthusiastic consensus in Canada is simply not possible," the former Canfor CEO said.
The parties were working towards a self-imposed deadline Thursday, the last day when the U.S. could challenge a NAFTA panel ruling that rejected claims Canadian lumber was subsidized.
The amended package was tabled just 15 minutes after the U.S. filed its appeal, but U - .S. officials said the appeal will be vacated once a final deal is signed.
-
(CP) -Some quotes on the softwood lumber deal:
"Canada's bargaining position was strong, our conditions were clear, and this agreement delivers. This is what Canada wanted. This is what Canada got. This, colleagues, is a good deal. ... It helps Canadian companies, communities and workers. The vast majority of Canada's softwood production have given us their support." - Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Commons.
-
"On balance, it's a reasonable deal for Canada and a good deal for British Columbia. We think we've crafted a trade agreement that allows for different responses from different parts of the country. This is a fair trade agreement which will provide the stability we want." - B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell in Victoria.
-
"A lot of work went into negotiations that have led to this framework, and we have steadfastly defended Ontario's interests throughout the process. While this arrangement would require each jurisdiction to make some concessions, Ontario got a critical element - a more reasonable share of softwood exports." - Ontario Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay.
-
"We look forward to working closely with (the U.S. Bush administration) to ensure that an agreement is administered and enforced effectively to establish a fair competitive playing field for U.S. sawmills, mill workers and family timberland owners across the United States." - Steve Swanson, chairman of the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, the main U.S. lobby group fighting Canadian lumber shipments to the American market.
-
"It's a deal Stephen Harper has negotiated in haste to prove to Canadians that he has a better relationship with the Bush administration than the Liberals. But what it amounts to is caving in and accepting less than what international trade bodies have ruled we are entitled to." - Ken Neumann, national director of the United Steelworkers union, which represents more than 55,000 workers in the Canadian forest industry.
-
"This agreement is an historic opportunity to resolve a long-standing dispute and end litigation that spans more than two decades. After multiple lawsuits without resolution we are now close to achieving what many thought would never happen." - outgoing U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Rob Portman at a news conference in Washington.
-
"Throughout these negotiations, the Quebec government defended the province's interests and those of workers in the forestry sector and in outlying regions. This agreement will benefit the Quebec economy as a whole." - Quebec Premier Jean Charest.
-
"This deal will enable the Quebec industry to recoup nearly $1 billion we've given the United States to get access to American markets over the last five years." - Quebec Natural Resources Minister Pierre Corbeil.
-
"The fact that there would be some disagreement is predictable. But having been pretty intimately involved in it for a long time, I know just how important some of those details are. I applaud the government for trying to find a deal, and let's say that this is good enough." - Frank McKenna, former Canadian ambassador to the United States.
-
"We and the Canadian industry ought to be skeptical. The domestic producers have had a significant leg up with the American government. They have controlled the importation of Canadian lumber." Jerry Howard, vice-president of the U.S. National Association of Home Builders.
-
"The agreement really does establish a fair, certain and long-term resolution to the softwood lumber dispute. It will not only see the revoking of duties but the return to Canadian lumber producers of at least $4 billion US of collected duties. This agreement is the result of the greatest show of determination in trade diplomacy, in my view, that North America has seen since the negotiation of the NAFTA agreement itself. We accomplished more in 80 days than any Canadian government has accomplished in the last decade." - Industry Minister David Emerson in Washington.
-
"There can be no question of Canada returning to a conventional bargaining table, as the U.S. ambassador has suggested. You don't negotiate after you've won. The issue is compliance. And achieving full compliance should be the objective of the prime minister." Stephen Harper in an address to the Conservative national caucus in Halifax on Sept. 7, 2005.
-
Highlights of the amended framework for a negotiated settlement to the Canada-U.S. softwood dispute obtained by The Canadian Press (elements changed from earlier draft in brackets):
-A cap on Canada's share of the U.S. lumber market based on regional average share of Canadian exports to U.S. during calendar years 2001-05 (revised from 2004-05).
-A sliding tax triggered when the North American market price for softwood lumber falls below $355 US per thousand board feet (changed from $360 US).
-Surge mechanism triggered if a region's exports exceed 110 per cent of allocated share in any one period, including penalty of 150 per cent of normal export tax (reduced from 200 per cent in initial draft).
-Return $4 billion US in punitive duties collected by U.S. Customs since May 2002; $1 billion stays in U.S., with half going to Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, the rest divided between joint North American lumber marketing initiatives and "meritorious initiatives" in U.S.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n0427114A.xml
Seems like a flip-flop on Harper's part.
VANCOUVER (CP) - A clause in the tentative softwood deal between Canada and the United States is being called a deal-breaker by elements of the B.C. forest industry because of fears it impinges on Canadian sovereignty.
Sources say the so-called anti-circumvention clause could allow the U.S. government a veto on changes to provincial forestry policies. The clause commits the agreement signatories to take no actions that would undermine the agreement or offset export restrictions.
But sources say it could require provincial governments to submit policy changes to U.S. officials - for instance revising timber prices in the B.C. Interior, where companies are rushing to harvest stands of beetle-infested trees.
Sources say the issue was not discussed in the feverish negotiations that took place this week leading up to Thursday's agreement. But the written deal submitted Thursday raised a red flag.
B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell has written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the issue at the request of the B.C. lumber sector.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n042847A.xml
And there goes our sovereignty.
Just like all opposition parties said, the devils are in the lines of the agreement.
Sources say the so-called anti-circumvention clause could allow the U.S. government a veto on changes to provincial forestry policies. The clause commits the agreement signatories to take no actions that would undermine the agreement or offset export restrictions.
But sources say it could require provincial governments to submit policy changes to U.S. officials - for instance revising timber prices in the B.C. Interior, where companies are rushing to harvest stands of beetle-infested trees.
Sources say the issue was not discussed in the feverish negotiations that took place this week leading up to Thursday's agreement. But the written deal submitted Thursday raised a red flag.
B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell has written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the issue at the request of the B.C. lumber sector.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n042847A.xml
And there goes our sovereignty.
Just like all opposition parties said, the devils are in the lines of the agreement.
It's a shit deal, we could have at least gotten one nuclear weapon out of them, because that's all that will keep them from chipping away at the rest of the Nafta agreement. If the Harperneo-cons think this is a great stuff there're going to want to do more. We're going to have a big big sale, everything must go.
The US was in the wrong.....period.
Harper isn't a "traitor", he got a deal and put this dispute in the past. Just like Clinton did with the beer dispute with Canada.
Remember the beer dispute? The one Canada refused to comply with two GATT panel decisions against Canada, after years and years of negotiations, it ended. And then Ontario started slapping taxes on American imported aluminum cans after the agreement.
You think you guys walk on water? I think not. You just selective memories. You're not a little kid being pushed around, you're grown ups playing protectionism when it suits you like everybody else on the planet.
Harper isn't a "traitor", he got a deal and put this dispute in the past. Just like Clinton did with the beer dispute with Canada.
Remember the beer dispute? The one Canada refused to comply with two GATT panel decisions against Canada, after years and years of negotiations, it ended. And then Ontario started slapping taxes on American imported aluminum cans after the agreement.
You think you guys walk on water? I think not. You just selective memories. You're not a little kid being pushed around, you're grown ups playing protectionism when it suits you like everybody else on the planet.