Cariboo companies are being hit hard with the recent announcement of softwood lumber duties to be imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
West Fraser was hit the hardest by the duties at a rate of 24.12 per cent.
Other companies assessed for duties were Canfor, (20.26 per cent), Tolko (19.50 per cent), Resolute (12.82 per cent) and Irving (3.02 per cent). All other British Columbian and Canadian companies will face a tariff of 19.88 per cent.
The duties, expected to start on or around May 1, are also retroactive for the past 90 days.
The U.S. Department of Commerce argues the duties are required to offset what it considers unfair subsidies provided by the Canadian and provincial governments to lumber companies.
There is, however, the possibility of more to come. The U.S. Department of Commerce is also expected to release a preliminary determination on “anti-dumping” duties on June 23 in order to offset what it considers are unfair practices by Canadian lumber companies allegedly selling lumber below costs or sales values in Canada.
When contacted, West Fraser deferred all comments to the BC Lumber Trade Council.
“These duties are unwarranted and this determination is completely without merit,” said Susan Yurkovich, President of the BC Lumber Trade Council.
“The allegations made by the U.S. lumber lobby are the same arguments they made in prior rounds of litigation, all of which were rejected and overturned by independent NAFTA panels. This new trade action is driven by the same protectionist lumber lobby in the U.S. whose sole purpose is to create artificial supply constraints on lumber and drive prices up for their benefit, at the expense of American consumers.”
Yurkovich also said that reaching a new agreement is in the best interest of producers and consumers on both sides of the border and that the trade council will be working with provincial and federal governments to support efforts to reach a new agreement.
“However, with this U.S. trade action, we will also continue to vigorously defend our industry and our workers against these unwarranted duties and expect to be successful as we have been in the past.”
Premier Christy Clark also weighed into the discussion, pausing her activities on the campaign trail to hold a cabinet meeting about the softwood lumber duties.
“My message to B.C. forest workers, their families, and producers is this: We are here for you. We will fight for you. And we will not give up,” she said.
Canada and the United States have been without a softwood lumber agreement since the former agreement expired in October.
Paul French, president of United Steelworkers Local 1-425, represents roughly 900 forestry workers in 100 Mile House and Williams Lake and says that while the duties are not as bad as what they first thought they could be, they are only the first round.
“We’re worried about what is coming next,” he says.
He says that the bigger forestry companies have been expecting this and preparing for the duties; the real hit will be on smaller operators.
However, he says, the combination of higher duties and the limit in the annual allowable cut will pose a combination threat to the area.
“Owners are going to look at how to do streamlining,” he says. “They’re going to obviously strategically manoeuvre themselves in how to best survive, so we’re quite nervous about job loss for our area.”
The last dispute over softwood lumber cost thousands of jobs in British Columbia.
“We could wind up possibly losing mills or we could be the lucky ones and be sustainable.”
The forest sector represents 26 per cent of total basic employment in 100 Mile House District according to the 2006 Economic Dependency Tables for Forest Districts.
French says the United Steelworkers are talking on a daily basis with the companies to stay up to date on what is happening before it happens, but that workers are no strangers to job loss in the forestry industry.
“We just work to try to mitigate losses and try to make the best of how things work and to try and make sure the company follows the collective agreement,” he says.
