Steve sold out Canada for his buddy Dubya.

[hiti]

Softwood deal apt to implode, trade envoys say

Paul Marck, CanWest News Service; Edmonton Journal

Published: Thursday, April 12, 2007

EDMONTON - The six-month-old softwood trade agreement trumpeted by the Harper government as the solution to a major irritant between Canada and the U.S. likely will not survive its seven-year mandate, say the former chief negotiators for both sides.

"This agreement does not provide for long-term resolution of this dispute," said Doug Waddell, a former federal assistant deputy minister for international trade.

"The agreement will not be durable ... the dynamics going on in business are changing so quickly," added Grant Aldonas, former U.S. undersecretary for commerce.

Aldonas said the Bush government was desperate to negotiate a solution to the lumber standoff, after losing five international trade rulings in Canada's favour.

"It was clear ... the U.S. was on the losing end of the litigation," Aldonas said.

Hank Ketcham, president and CEO of West Fraser Timber, said Canada was within months of winning litigation before Ottawa jumped the gun and went along with an agreement that industry did not want, but saw as a lifeline in order to get $5 billion in duties returned.

"On the whole, I felt this agreement fell short of what we could have arranged," said Ketcham.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.ht...a9635c4&k=66271

No wonder Emerson doesn't want to run in the next election. He would get his head handed to him. Plus he left $1 billion in the US for the lumber industry to use against Canada in the next round.

Harper has no national commitment to Canada. We are just a means to an end for his own glory. He can puff out his fat chest and say he signed a soft-wood lumber agreement that the Liberals didn't. See what a brilliant pm Steve is. See Steve be pm.

Barf!

[Charles Anthony]

A new softwood lumber thread?

[hiti]

A new softwood lumber thread?

New information.

[Charles Anthony]

Perchance, may this new information have any connection at all with the old information?

[Vancouver King]

No wonder Emerson doesn't want to run in the next election. He would get his head handed to him. Plus he left $1 billion in the US for the lumber industry to use against Canada in the next round.

He is perhaps the most loathed politician on the West Coast. From UBC to Surrey, there is not a single constituency where enough voters are willing to hold their noses to return this wretch to Ottawa.

Short of his party performing another Stockwell Day and parachuting him into a bible-belt riding out in the valley, the stench of his softwood lumber/floor crossing machinations end with the current regime. Public life will be fresher for it.

[margrace]

A new softwood lumber thread?

Oh Dear don't bring up the softwood lumber deal. We have to forget that but everytime something is said negative to the Conservatives up pops the money spent by the liberals in the Quebec item.

[Topaz]

Apparently, the US getting the 1 bil. isn't enough because now their housing market is heading down, people are losing their houses because of the renewals on their mortgages. This is causing very little NEW housing and so they don't need the lumber. I understand alot of US lumber goes to China. So, now the US wants to reopen talks with the Canadian govt.

[scribblet]

Apparently, the US getting the 1 bil. isn't enough because now their housing market is heading down, people are losing their houses because of the renewals on their mortgages. This is causing very little NEW housing and so they don't need the lumber. I understand alot of US lumber goes to China. So, now the US wants to reopen talks with the Canadian govt.

"Falling lumber prices have triggered a costly 15 per cent export tax that is expected to continue for years, said Trevor Wakelin, director of fibre resources for Millar Western, Alberta's biggest provincially based forestry company.

Wakelin said the core argument at the heart of the dispute - Crown ownership of timber in Canada versus private ownership in the U.S. - was never dealt with. The U.S. has long claimed that companies do not pay market cost in the royalties they pay to provinces for timber."

The naysayers who hate Harper for whatever reason would not like any deal he negotiated, and I suppose no deal to them beats what we got, which was pretty good.

[BornAlbertan]

Hmmm...so imagine this:

I begin to die owing you $100,000.

Would you rather me pay you $75,000 or shaft you for the whole $100,000 and you will never see it?

That is exactly what would have happened with the dispute. How people can still be upset over that settlement in a dispute with another country in which we cut our losses and move on but still support AdScammers, Income Trust Scandals, Billion Dollar Gun registries that do nothing and giving criminals the right to vote (thus allowing them to choose the makers of the laws they break...hmmm..interesting).

Point is, politicians will never please all the people. But why the hell is it some people continually bitch just for the sake of bitching?

[Guest chilipeppers]

Hmmm...so imagine this:

I begin to die owing you $100,000.

Would you rather me pay you $75,000 or shaft you for the whole $100,000 and you will never see it?

That is exactly what would have happened with the dispute. How people can still be upset over that settlement in a dispute with another country in which we cut our losses and move on but still support AdScammers, Income Trust Scandals, Billion Dollar Gun registries that do nothing and giving criminals the right to vote (thus allowing them to choose the makers of the laws they break...hmmm..interesting).

Point is, politicians will never please all the people. But why the hell is it some people continually bitch just for the sake of bitching?

I guess some people would rather cut off their nose to spite their faces

[Fat Freddie]

Hmmm...so imagine this:

I begin to die owing you $100,000.

Would you rather me pay you $75,000 or shaft you for the whole $100,000 and you will never see it?

That is exactly what would have happened with the dispute. How people can still be upset over that settlement in a dispute with another country in which we cut our losses and move on but still support AdScammers, Income Trust Scandals, Billion Dollar Gun registries that do nothing and giving criminals the right to vote (thus allowing them to choose the makers of the laws they break...hmmm..interesting).

Point is, politicians will never please all the people. But why the hell is it some people continually bitch just for the sake of bitching?

The way I see it is Harper simply did in less than a month what the Liberals couldn't do in 13 years. The problem was resolved enough to save those who were still intact. I guess if I were a Liberal who would rather argue until the entire forest industry had failed, I too would be crying about a billion dollars. I think waiting and crying like the Liberals were doing was leading the industry in BC into the toilet. From what I read, the high count of companies that went belly up during the Liberal Wait-a-thon was becoming critical to the whole operation. In other words, they knew that killing them all wasn't in the best interest of the country. The US Forestry group has deeper pockets due to the Republican backing. Does anyone with a brain cell actually think we Canadians would have won in the long run? The only winners would have been the Canadian lawyers, which by the way were full of Liberal friendly buddies. I would think adscam is just the beginning of ways the Liberals robbed us.

[guyser]

The way I see it is Harper simply did in less than a month what the Liberals couldn't do in 13 years. The problem was resolved enough to save those who were still intact.

I am of the understanding that the Libs were close but that Lib stupidity in running the mouth against Bush was a reason it stalled. Is that true?

The US Forestry group has deeper pockets due to the Republican backing. Does anyone with a brain cell actually think we Canadians would have won in the long run?

I never followed this all that closely but I recall that the tariifs held back or paid by the CDN lumber guys to the US is money that went into the lumber guys fund and not to the Govt as it would have if turned around.If true then of course they could outlast the CDN lumbermen.

[Michael Bluth]

The way I see it is Harper simply did in less than a month what the Liberals couldn't do in 13 years. The problem was resolved enough to save those who were still intact.

I am of the understanding that the Libs were close but that Lib stupidity in running the mouth against Bush was a reason it stalled. Is that true?

That's not really the story.

Emerson brought basically the same deal to the table with Martin in the PMO just before the 2006 election but got shot down. Don't know why Martin was fighting for more, but that photo op with Paulie at the lumber yard wouldn't have been possible with a signed deal. Shrewd tactical decision.

[gc1765]

Oh Dear don't bring up the softwood lumber deal. We have to forget that but everytime something is said negative to the Conservatives up pops the money spent by the liberals in the Quebec item.

Looks like your prediction came true: Link

[hiti]

Fri 30 Mar 2007 09:24 PM EDT

Some surprising news late this afternoon -- the United States has formally complained to Canada about softwood lumber -- accusing Canada and the provinces of paying illegal subsidies. You may have thought softwood lumber disputes were supposed to be a thing of the past but critics of the deal signed in late 2006 will be saying this is just what they predicted would happen.

The U.S., late this afternoon, alleged that $2-billion worth of aid that Canada and the provinces are providing to the softwood industry in Ontario and Quebec is illegal. So, the U.S. is seeking either more restrictions on the amount of Canadian lumber that can be exported to the Canadian market or they want more export taxes slapped on the wood. In any event, it's a sharp negative for the industry which thought it had won some lumber peace with the U.S. when it and Canada agreed to the controversial deal.

What may be even more frustrating is that Canadian industry gave up certain rights in the softwood lumber agreement that might help it win the current dispute. For example, the years leading up to the softwood lumber deal, Canada and Canadian firms won one victory after another in a variety of American and international courts. But Canada agreed to throw all those judgments out as part of the softwood lumber deal so if any Canadian company wants to use the courts to challenge the American view, they will not be able to use those earlier judgments to buttress the case.

Expect some political fallout on this news. Prime Minister Harper made a great show of proclaiming peace with the Americans on this issue and clearly there is none. His political opponsents on this issue will say his attempts to forge a relationship with Washington that was different from the Liberals seems to have been for naught. Harper’s first trip as Prime Minister, of course, was down to Washington to get U.S. President George Bush to personally put his weight behind the negotiations.

International Trade Minister David Emerson's reaction tonight -- and I should say this was in a press release issued at 7:10 pm (Ottawa time) a Friday night — a time when organizations will often announce bad news that they hope gets ignored -- Emerson's reaction is that this is an administrative issue and, as he said in a statement, “We expected that such administrative issues would arise.” But some say that’s like saying, “Pk, tomorrow I'm going to punch you in the face” and then tomorrow, after you get slugged, you you shrug it off by saying, “well, ok, that was to be expected." http://politicsblog.ctv.ca/blog/_archives/...30/2847439.html

-end quote

So Steve took Emerson as his pawn, plus the Softwood Lumber deal that Paul Martin had rejected and pushed Bush to force an agreement, leaving $1 friggin' BILLION on the table to ensure he gets his photo op and bragging rights that "he gets it done" while the Liberals dithered.

In doing this, Steve royally screwed over the Canadian lumber industry AND removed their tools for fighting back and protecting themselves.

What a great (sic) leader this Steve is.

Words cannot describe how disgusting this "new" government is and how much Steve needs to be replaced.