Emerson hopes softwood legislation can be introduced before fall
by Romeo St. Martin

[PoliticsWatch posted 6:00 p.m. June 5, 2006]

OTTAWA  — Trade Minister David Emerson said Monday that he will need both legislation and a ways and means motion to put into place the softwood lumber agreement with the U.S.
 
"We believe and I am advised that we will need both a ways and means motion and legislation," Emerson told the Commons trade committee.

"We think we will probably do both. We'd like to get a ways and means motion at a minimum in the House before summer. Legislation, we'll have to see how  our negotiations progress and see how legislative drafting progresses."

The ways and means motion is needed to implement an export tax that is a new feature in the agreement. 

Emerson said the ways and means motion can be introduced as soon as the agreement is finalized with the U.S. Once this ways and means motion is passed it will come into effect

Since the agreement was announced in April, both Canada and the U.S. have submitted their draft proposals. 

On Monday, the first joint proposal was released and it shows that the deal is still not close to being finalized. 

Sources say there exists major disagreements about a lot of the language in the new proposal, including the issue of cash deposits and a part of the deal that would halt further Canadian industry litigation. 

Canadian officials are in Washington this week hammering out the details with their U.S. counterparts. 

The target is to have a final agreement in place by Friday. 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is set to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington on July 6. 

In order to get legislation passed in the House of Commons, the Conservatives need the support of at least one of the three opposition parties. 

When the deal was announced in April, all three opposition parties criticized the agreement, especially the Liberals and the NDP whose leaders characterized it as a sell out to the U.S.

But when PoliticsWatch quizzed the opposition parties last week on whether or not they would support Emerson's ways and means motion, all three said they would have to see it before deciding which way to vote. 

Last week, the trade committee spent two days listening to about a dozen lumber companies and lumber groups. 

The majority of those appearing all said they had problems with various components of the deal, ranging from the speed that duties will be refunded to language in the agreement some say would be an admission that Canada subsidized its industry and dumped lumber into the U.S. market. 

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