TruBlue on Softwood

Today Liberal international trade critic, Dominic LeBlanc, stood shoulder to shoulder with the Liberal House leader and confirmed that the party would vote against the softwood lumber deal negotiated by the government. The Liberals are counting on Bloc support for the deal so that they can posture themselves as the defenders of the universe. Their opportunism is as caricatured as a cartoon.

LeBlanc went on to say that "it would be a failure if the lumber industry gets anything less than all of the tariffs it paid to the United States." As a lawyer, we know that M. LeBlanc understands the principles of a negotiated settlement. When you enter into arbitration, no one party gets everything they want. Compromise and concession are essential elements to negotiating in good faith. With the Conservative deal, the crippling tariffs are now gone!

The Liberals feel comfortable blowing smoke because the NDP/Liberal alliance won't have enough votes to defeat the settlement. The fact is that the softwood lumber agreement is a good deal. It ends years or expensive litigation that has cost the lumber industry millions, and more importantly it has cost forestry and mill workers their jobs. The Conservative negotiated deal nets the return of $4 billion of the $5 billion in tariffs collected by the US. It reopens our export market to the US which consumes the vast majority of our exports. It provides a stable framework for the expansion of our forestry industry for years to come.

The reason Dominic LeBlanc and the Liberals are "opposed" to the deal is because they failed to make it happen during their 12 years in office! While Carrolyn Parrish was stomping on dolls of President Bush and former PM, Paul Martin, was throwing cheap anti American barbs south of the border, the lumber industry in Canada was falling apart. MP's representing regions affected by the dispute were begging the former government for aid packages to keep the industry afloat. Now the deal is done. It has the support of the majority of lumber producers as well as the provinces of BC, ON and PQ. Virtually the only ones left in opposition to this deal are those who cannot bring themselves to admit that Stephen Harper's team made it happen. RED looks good on the Liberals - it must be from embarrassment!

TruBlue

**Edit: Apologies for the type O. Thanks to Anon for pointing it out. - The Blue Blogger**