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the tyee
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Apr
28
Deal…
April 28, 2006 |
The PMO has a press release out on softwood lumber. They have a deal.
Now, it will take a while to figure out the terms of the deal and how good or bad it is for the various lumber producing provinces; but the bottom line is that this removes one of the ongoing irritants in Canada US relations.
For Harper this is a substantial accomplishment and one which he should be able to use in the coming campaign. It puts to rest a file which apparently baffled ten years of Liberal administration. Not bad for a brand new Prime Minister with next to no international experience.
Comments
4 Comments so far
Actually Jay.. the term for this deal is called “Sellout”
Managed trade rather then free trade - a cap which we cant go over.
If prices drop.. we have to pay export taxes.
We reward the Americans a billion $ for illegally harrassing us.
Great deal (sarcasm)
The NDP trade critic has asked the Tories to put this proposed deal to the House for a vote. It should be voted into oblvivion as far as I am concerned.
“Not bad for a brand new Prime Minister with next to no international experience.”
Only if it is a deal worth having, Jay - and this one isn’t.
Isn’t this pretty much the same deal the Libs were negotiating last November through Emerson?
For a decade we’ve been dealing with - or not dealing with - this file. No question the Americans played hardball and, unfortunately, winning as much as they were losing.
So, is this a great deal? No. But is it terrible or a sellout? No as well.
American trade politics are a nasty mess with assorted Congressmen and Senators fighting their state’s corner to the exclusion of the interests of the rest of the US as well as Canada. It is a throughly disfunctional situation. However, it is the reality which the Canadian trade negotiators had to deal with.
This was the deal that was available. It provides a degree of certainty and predictability to an industry which has had none for a decade. Yes it is managed trade because that is all that the Senators were willing to accept.
The Liberals had no clue how to either get a deal or go after the Americans who were in the way. The Tories have got a deal. Now it is up to the American voters to rid the Senate and the House of people who are willing to hold American homebuilders to ransom.