Accessibility Links
A controversial agreement
Canada and the United States are the world's largest trading partners, but there's one thing they've never agreed on: softwood lumber. The dispute dates back hundreds of years, but in the 1980s it turned nasty. The U.S. has slapped billions of dollars of fines on Canadian wood, jeopardizing thousands of jobs. The dispute raises serious questions about trade, sovereignty, and the real nature of Canada-U.S. relations.
. The softwood deal had been endorsed by the governments of Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia - Canada's biggest lumber producing provinces. But several opposition critics and independent lumber producers accused the government of selling out to the Americans, and bullying Canadians into accepting the deal.
. One issue was an announcement that lumber companies that did not support the deal - and refused to help pay the $1 billion that would go to the U.S. - would be hit with a 19 per cent "special charge."
. The deal also required lumber companies to drop any lawsuits they had brought against the United States.
. Because bureaucratic red tape was expected to delay payments to Canadian lumber companies for several years, the Canadian federal government assumed responsibility for paying the refunds. It promised to make the payments as quickly as possible, and collect the money owed from the Americans when it could. In return for assuming this risk, the government would collect the interest owed and keep any funds that were not claimed.
. Following the deal with the U.S., Canada's federal government announced that it would stake its political future on the softwood deal. Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared that the bill he planned to introduce when Parliament resumed would be a confidence motion. That meant an election would likely be called if the bill were defeated.
. The agreement would still have to pass a vote in the House of Commons, where the Tories held a minority. But in September 2006, the Bloc Québécois announced that it would support the deal, ensuring it would pass.
Program: As It Happens
Broadcast Date: Sept. 11, 2006
Guest(s): Simon Potter
Host: Barbara Budd, Carol Off
Duration: 5:31
Last updated: January 20, 2012
Page consulted on November 28, 2012
All Clips from this Topic
-
The U.S. lumber industry demands heavy duties on Canadian wood.
-
If at first you don't succeed...
-
Barbara Frum puts Canadian and American ambassadors on the hot seat.
-
Fifteen per cent tariff strips away Canada's competitive edge and show...
-
Canadians are talking tough, but Americans are either divided or not e...
-
Canada offers to tax its own wood, and give the U.S. a say.
-
An NDP resources critic says Canada has been selling off our forests f...
-
Canada's agreement with U.S. has Canadians angry. Americans wonder wha...
-
Nakina, Ont. is one of 300 communities whose very existence is threate...
-
After five years of voluntarily taxing its own wood, Canada says "enou...
-
Stoking the fires of an old fued.
-
Gordon Ritchie says the new 14.48 per cent import duty is an outlandis...
-
U.S. loses final free trade appeal.
-
Canada agrees to impose a national tax on lumber exports, heading off ...
-
Canada has negotiated a truce with the U.S. Now it faces a civil war.
-
Softwood dispute is "live or die" for historic sawmills in Darrington,...
-
Another blow to the troubled softwood industry threatens survival of l...
-
Pierre Pettigrew can't strike a deal to head off duties totalling almo...
-
Rick Doman asks Ottawa to cover U.S. duties.
-
The return of crushing import duties prompts a race to dump Canadian w...