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OTTAWA
- (Web posted March 22, 2002 @ 3:30 p.m.) - A subdued looking Pierre
Pettigrew called the American decision to hit Canadian softwood lumber products
with a 29 per cent duty "obscene" on Friday. The
international trade minister had just returned from Washington after three days
of intense negotiations failed to solve the lingering trade dispute that affects
thousands of Canadian workers. The
U.S. Department of Commerce announced the duty Friday morning.  "I
am sorry the American administration did not find the nerve to confront its
protectionist softwood lumber producers," Pettigrew said.
"I
am sorry for Canadian workers and the communities who will have to live (with)
these punitive measures. In my view it's a pretty bad day." U.S.
officials can start collecting the duty on May 8. While
the Americans blamed Canada for the collapsed talks, Pettigrew placed the blame
squarely on the shoulders of U.S. negotiators and the U.S. lumber lobby. "The
American proposal was really not interesting at all," said Pettigrew, who
announced he has requested a panel be formed under the North American Free Trade
Agreement to investigate the punitive levy. "We
will challenge this American action to the end." Opposition
MPs have used the failure of the talks to claim that NAFTA doesn't work when
Canadian industries and jobs are at stake. The
North American Free Trade Agreement works when it's good for the Americans, NDP
Member of Parliament Lorne Nystrom said in the House of Commons on Friday. "What
they're doing is legal and it respects the letter of the (NAFTA)
agreement," Pettigrew admitted. "But what we would like is to respect
the spirit of free trade in softwood." In
Question Period Svend Robinson, NDP member of Parliament for the British
Columbia riding of Burnaby-Douglas, urged the government to establish an aid
package to help lumber workers and communities. "If
we can come up with an aid package for Bombardier we can come up with an aid
package for B.C.," Robinson said. Pettigrew
did not have much to say on the question in the House of Commons, or at his
press conference. "It will be
an element that we will have to take into account," he said. "We
will look into what the industry thinks is best for its future but of course we
also have to take into account the very point . . about not deepening the
countervailing allegations."
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