|
Softwood lumber fight - where will it end?
• Back to News
By Bill Mahoney
The Valley Sentinel
Where will it end is no longer the question for many Canadians. The question has become when will it end? Maclean’s magazine says the story has become so tedious its editors wish they could just ignore it. Neither side in the dispute seems to be getting anywhere and yet, as though locked in mortal combat, they can’t let it go.
This country sees US refusal to play by the rules as the root of the problem. They are big. They are unprincipled. They just take what they want.
But it’s more likely that when it comes to lumber, the US just can’t compete with Canadian industry. We have demonstrated time and again that we can sell our lumber in the US cheaper than they can produce it in their own mills. I don’t doubt that they have tried to keep up with Canadian cost cutting and can’t, so they are looking for other ways to survive. Playing by the rules would probably result in the US lumber industry surrendering its market and losing a livelihood. Apparently they are not prepared to do that.
John Brink, President and CEO of Brink Forest Products Ltd, a Prince George based company, says it’s time to settle. He says low lumber prices in the US market resulting from oversupply harm all producers in the long run. “It’s time to introduce some discipline into the marketplace,” he said.
For Canada, and particularly BC, this means controlling the supply of lumber to the US. For all its faults, the new softwood lumber agreement with help do this.
The timing for this dispute to come to a head is unfortunate. BC has a glut of bug-killed wood to dispose of and the US housing market is beginning to soften with a decrease in demand for lumber.
There will be pain. Mills like the ones in the Robson Valley already know what it’s like to have to deal with the high operating costs that result from small volume production and difficult logging terrain. Mill survival here is an issue too. Its goes right into area homes and families. Families have been forced to relocate in dire circumstances when low lumber prices cause unexpected shutdowns. Workers have been injured pushing the limits around bush and mill machinery. Workers have died trying to get to work too quickly on poorly maintained bush roads.
Settling the softwood lumber dispute will affect everyone here, but it’s time to settle.
|
