VICTORIA – Forests and Range Minister Rich Coleman today supported the federal government’s decision not to
go ahead with meetings with U.S. government officials on Aug. 22 regarding the
softwood lumber dispute.
“The ineffective response by the United States
to last week’s NAFTA Extraordinary Challenge Committee’s decision leaves us no
choice but to cancel the upcoming meeting,” said Coleman. “We fully support the
federal government’s decision to suspend these discussions and look forward to
continuing to work with the federal government and the provinces to bring a
resolution to this long-standing disruption of free trade.”
Coleman added
that there are no current plans to restart discussions. Canada and the provinces
will continue to monitor the U.S. response before deciding on next
steps.
On Aug. 10, the NAFTA Extraordinary Challenge Committee ruled that
a NAFTA panel had correctly ruled that the International Trade Commission had
incorrectly found that imports of Canadian lumber are threatening to injury the
U.S. industry. This should result in the U.S. ceasing to collect duties and
providing a full refund of the almost $5 billion in duties collected to
date.
Contact
Don McDonald
Communications Director
Ministry of Forests and Range
250 387-8486