Quota Expiry -
continued from page one

American Free Trade Agreement
and then take the case the World
Trade Organization if necessary. A
NAFTA ruling may take up to 26
months for its last appeal process
and a WTO decision may take 3
years or more. S
At the end of the NAFTA process,
it can only be decided whether or
not the U.S. Commerce Department
and International Trade Commis-
sion are fairly applying U.S trade
laws. And there is nothing under
the NAFTA to prohibit American
politicians from changing those laws
in the future should the coalition
lose its case.
In the interim period damage done

anti-dumping duty could do irrepara-
ble harm to the Canadian softwood
lumber industry.

A duty or export tax of 15% alone
would cost the B.C. industry some
$1 billion a year and could drive
some producers out of business,
depending on world lumber prices.

Currently the Canadian govern-
ment is registering all lumber
exports, which have actually tapered
off due to the industry’s uncertainty.
Few producers are willing to risk
large-scale imports or increases in
the amount of wood they tradition-
ally ship to the United States should
they be hit by retroactive duties in
the months ahead.

Although by early March, U.S
International Trade Representative
Robert Zoellick asked Pettigrew if

Canada would agree to collecting an
export tax, the Canadian lumber
industry has been split.

The B.C. Trade Lumber Council
is urging Canada to negotiate an
interim agreement to collect an
export tax for a 90-120 days. It
believes this would offer the Bush
administration more time to have a
closer look at the coalition’s false
claims.

Meanwhile the Montreal-based
Free Trade Lumber Council (FTLC)
does not support the B.C. council’s
position to seek an export tax. It
represents some 80 companies in 5
provinces, many of which are certi-
fied to I.W.A. locals. Most of its
member companies are in Ontario
and Quebec.

On the east coast, the Maritime
Lumber Bureau, which represents
47 producers that have seen a 130%
growth in lumber exports to the
U.S. between 1996-2001, wants to
see an extension of its tariff free
status which expired at the end of
the SLA. :

“We’ve got various interests in
Canada which still have to come
together so that the country can
speak with one voice,” said Hag-
gard. “That may be difficult to do.
Everyone is jockeying around to
protect their own interests first.”

The I.W.A.’s position is clear.
There should be a level playing field
for all Canadian lumber producers
vis-a-vis the U.S. market.

Brother Haggard delivered that
message loud and clear to the House
of Commons Standing Committee
on International Trade and Foreign
Affairs in Ottawa on March 21.

“We can’t go back to another quota
system that treats workers differ-
ently in different parts of the coun-
try,” he said. “We need even access
for all provinces, all regions and all
countries.”

Under. the expired SLA, the’

provinces of B.C., Alberta, Ontario
and Quebec were limited to 14.7 bil-
lion board feet of tariff-free lumber
exports over the past five years.
Any shipments from those provinces
exceeding that limit were subject to
tariff penalties.

Meanwhile Saskatchewan, Mani-
toba and the Maritimes, exempted
from the agreement; were free to
ship as much lumber as they wanted
without penalty.

The I.W.A.’s Research Director
Doug Smyth notes in a soon-to-be-
released study that, due to the soft-
wood lumber quota agreement, 73%
of the rise in demand in U.S. lum-
ber markets between 1995 and 2000
was met by U.S. lumber producers.

He noted that the four provinces
covered by the SLA saw their mar-
ket share drop by 1.033 billion board

feet between 1996 and 1999. Mean-
while non-SLA provinces saw their
exports rise by 1.753 billion board
feet. Offshore producers captured
an additional share of over 700 mil-
lion board feet in the same period.
Haggard told the parliamentary
committee that, while lumber from
third countries freely enters the
U.S., four Canadian provinces were

subject to quotas.
He called on Canadian and Amer-

ican governments, industry and
Jabour to find cooperative solutions
to solve the impasse.

“We've got various
interests in Canada
that still have to
come together so that
the country can
speak with one
voice.”

— Dave Haggard,
National I.W.A.
President

“We should be working toward a
North American accord on lumber
that creates a level playing field for
producers on both sides of the bor-
der and helps both countries to take
advantage of growing markets out-
side of North America,” said Hag-
gard.

He said that the demand for for-
est products in Pacific Rim coun-:
tries is growing and that both
Canada and the U.S. need to increase
capital investment, workforce train-
ing, product diversification and
market development to take advan-
tage of those opportunities.

“Rather than fighting over our
domestic markets we can work
together to take advantage of real
opportunities for growth that are
there now,” he added. He warned
that non-traditional producers in
countries like Indonesia, Malaysia
and New Zealand are already doing
so.

Haggard gave the union’s commit-
ment to take part in discussions
with the industry, governments and
unions in both countries to make
such a strategy work in both Canada
and the U.S. and said preliminary
talks have already taken place.

NDP support
continued from page one

Between 1996 and 1999 forest
companies provided nearly 20% of
corporate funding to the Liberals.

“Follow the money trail and you'll
see that the Liberals have been and
will be indebted to the corporate
sector, especially the forest indus-
try,” said Haggard. “I think they
intend to deliver what those compa-
nies ask them for.”

On labour law reform, Campbell
has vowed to get rid of automatic
certification procedures during

-union organizing campaigns and
gut the Employment Standards Act.

“That will pave the way, once
again, for employer-driven intimi-
dation and interference when our
people are in the field organizing
the non-union workforce,” says Hag-

gard. “I certainly think that union
people are against that.”
Although the Liberals say they

¢ NDP premier Ujjal Dosanjh is count-
ing on his credibility for support.

will not repeal anti-scab legislation
if elected, Brother Haggard
expresses the union’s skepticism.

“Tm a tad bit suspicious about
Campbell’s reversal on the scab
issue before an election. It’s been
the long-standing policy of the Lib-
erals to support strike breaking and
I believe our members have to take
this into consideration before they
vote,” he says.

The Liberals vow to eliminate
Bill 26 which currently permits sec-
toral bargaining in industrial, com-
mercial and institutional construc-
tion and get rid of fair wage policies
on public spending project like high-
ways and schools.

ampbell has called the NDP’s
move to boost the minimum wage a
political issue and a “cruel hoax”
that drives jobs out of the province.

Although the NDP government
has a mixed record on forest-secotor
issues, Haggard noted that the old
Socred regime left a mess that had
to be fixed. And he poited out that

measures such as the recently-cre-
ated fund for workers on the cen-
tral coast shows a willingness to
consider workers, no just environ-
ment,

“Would Campbell do that? I don’t
think so,” he said.

As the campaign advances, Camp-
bell will be plugging open govern-
ment and provincial tax cuts.

“If they are proposing open gov-
ernment, maybe (Gordon) Campbell
can tell us right now how they will
be able to cut taxes and maintain
health care and education,” says
Haggard. “He won’t come out and
say it because he has no viable plan
other than cutting back social pro-
grams.” z

In 1998, the B.C. Business Sum-
mit acknowledged that if its desired
tax cuts of $1.5 billion were pee
mented, only one-third of that
amount would flow back to the
poo The other two-thirds would

ave to be cut from programs like
health care and education.

OO EE

2/LUMBERWORKER/April, 2001