Federal vs provincial Govt in softwood lumber agreement

[gcsw]

How do you think the interests in the softwood lumber agreement differ between the federal and provincial governments? What were the most important things for each? Also what were each their roles in implementing the Agreement?

[August1991]

Another softwood lumber thread! Lumber, soft wood, same sex marriage. Hmmm.

How do you think the interests in the softwood lumber agreement differ between the federal and provincial governments? What were the most important things for each? Also what were each their roles in implementing the Agreement?

Interesting questions.

The agreement is in the financial interests of the private lumber firms (more profits). The agreement's also in the financial interests of the provinces (more tax/stumpage revenue). For the federal government, it's political perception. The Liberals wanted to appear to argue with Americans. The Tories want to appear to get along with Americans. (To their credit, the Liberals could say they were defending the principle of free trade even if it was against the interests of a small group of Canadian producers. The Tories could argue the deal sacrifices the principle of free trade to help a Canadian industry.)

Implementing the agreement? Implementing the agreement means cutting the proverbial cake.

Emerson negotiated the creation of a Big Lumber (see Big Pharma) North American cartel and then came back to Canadian lumber producers with a big cake. (Big? The Liberals admirably refused to play this game.) Greedy as usual, each lumber producer and provincial government wanted a big piece of the cake.

Cakes are hard to cut and so this agreement has been hard to implement. (Fortunately for the Tories, Maritime lumber has been excluded. New Yorkers will get their Nova Scotian Christmas trees.)