B.C.’s softwood lumber envoy says long-term deal needed with U.S.
VICTORIA — British Columbia’s trade envoy on softwood lumber says the province is ready to fight on behalf of its lumber producers, but isn’t looking to become embroiled in a costly and lengthy legal battle with the United States.
David Emerson was in Washington, D.C., this week meeting with U.S. trade officials, senators and representatives of the National Association of Homebuilders about the expired trade deal between Canada and the U.S.
“We’re not negotiating, but we’re certainly setting the table, and I conveyed to the people I met with that British Columbia, as much of the rest of Canada, is not anxious to take a long, costly damaging (litigation) process,” he said in a telephone news conference Wednesday.
“We would like to see softwood lumber resolved in a more reasonable, fact-based framework.”