Softwood Lumber Deal? What Softwood Lumber Deal?

A little more than a year later (the deal was inked on October 11, 2006), and the U.S. timber lobby, the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, is still bitching. In their latest release, they give a whole list of new Canadian "subsidies" allegedly in violation of the deal, and renew their support for "the decision taken by the United States to initiate arbitration proceedings".

Note that these arbitration proceedings are being financed from the half-billion-dollar war-chest Canada gave to the CFLI as part of the original "deal".

The CFLI (Coalition For Fair Lumber Imports) Awakens

A few people have noticed that the Canada/U.S. softwood lumber dispute is heating up again, and that the new set of U.S. legal challenges will actually be financed with the 1/2 billion or so we handed over to them to grovel our way to a "deal" in 2006.

Less noted is that the Coalition For Fair Lumber Imports, had cranked out a news release within minutes of the U.S. governments decision to seek binding arbitration against Canada to "compel Canada to live up to its SLA (Softwood Lumber Agreement) obligations." The CFLI news release can be found here, and laments:

"...the Coalition supports the initiatives taken today by the U.S. Government as Canada has unilaterally and without consultation undermined the softwood lumber agreement by refusing to implement key terms.... [T]he required tax and quota limits on shipments are essential to remedy Canada’s unfair trade practices. Canada’s failure to honor its commitments under the agreement continues to severely harm the U.S. lumber industry which is suffering curtailments and layoffs caused by production cutbacks that are occurring at twice the rate in the United States compared to our subsidized Canadian counterparts."

The CFLI is the power behind the throne on this issue and, if you're wondering why, get a load of their membership list, which was accidentally e-mailed to the media in early 2006. Far from being an obscure group of underdog woodsmen, it is in reality composed of many of the largest soft-wood lumber companies in the United States. You can be sure they don't give two farts about industry "layoffs".

This whole slowly unfolding disaster, by the way, was a result of Harper's 2006/07 re-election strategy. The original deal was cobbled together to last just long enough that the Tories might ride its "success" to a majority. Now that this strategy has failed, watch the deal unravel and--the one bright spot in all this--watch the Harper Tories wear it big-time.

Whither The Softwood Lumber Deal?

So far talk of the deal's possible demise has come mostly from U.S. politicians. However, now the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, a lobby group that has been the main driving force behind this issue on the American side, has spoken out. And what they are saying is not good:

Coalition Chairman Steve Swanson stated, “The SLA is a compromise, and we would have much preferred fully open and competitive Canadian timber markets as the solution to the unfair trade problem. But the SLA can and should be an enduring solution if its requirements are observed. The Canadian government presently is not applying export measures as required by the agreement, and provinces are providing forbidden subsidies. It is imperative that these issues be resolved quickly, and we support ongoing efforts to resolve them.”

"Resolving these issues" apparently means sending them to London Court of International Arbitration, whose decision will be based on the wording of the agreement. And one problem is that, as part of the original deal, our guys handed over $500,000,000 to the Coalition, which will now pay for their legal expenses! We're financing their case, in other words.

Talk about being played for suckers!