Rant&Rave: August 2006
I've got to get this off my chest. While I consider myself to be pretty much a "right winger", I was loath to see Stephen Harper and his new Conservative Party get elected. Since then, he has done a few things that were starting to sway me into a more supportive position. Then came the Softwood Lumber agreement. First of all, I don't like to support anything that David Emerson is behind, just because he does not represent the good citizens who elected a Liberal and wound up with a Conservative member through no fault of their own.
We wound up with this deal on softwood lumber largely because Steve wants a way to cozy up to his good buddy, George. Now I believe that having a good working relationship and friendship between our leaders is a good thing, but not at any cost.
The US lumber lobby is ruthless. They claim that Canada is using illegal subsidies for our industry which harms theirs. (How about their hugely excessive agricultural subsidies that harm the agriculture industries all over the world, including Canadian farmers) So they have persistanly imposed punitive duties which to date have totalled over $5 billion in spite of the fact that lumber is included in NAFTA and the NAFTA judicial board has consitantly sided with Canada. Steve's Conservative government and George's Republican government negotiated a deal that is highly beneficial to America and for Canada, not quite so much. A summary of the Softwood Lumber Agreement is here, http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=1234. It is from the government's own website so it looks very positive.
The government claims that the provinces and industry are supportive of the deal. Well, they are now, they weren't initially. They came on-side when former Liberal David Emerson told them that if they didn't come on-side, the government of Canada would drop the whole matter and leave the provinces and industry to the wolves (not a direct quote). No wonder they came on-side, they were given an offer they couldn't refuse.
Of course, the deal can still fail to pass in Parliament when the enacting legislation comes up in the fall. Now, this could happen very easily because Mr. Harper and his merry band are in a minority position in the House and every party other than his is against the bill. Bingo! Harper is crazy like a fox though. Knowing that the Liberal party will still be leaderless and therefor, not ready for an election, the PM has declared that the bill will be a matter of confience. If it fails, the government will fall and we will have an election shortly thereafter. Absolutely brilliant. He has forced the Liberals into a position where cannot sink the deal, snookered the best interest of the Canadian softwood lumber industry and the will of the majority of Canadians and solidified his relationship with Mr. Bush with one fell (or is that "foul") swoop.
I guess that for the next 7 years we will just have to live with it.
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Here is an American's take on the Software Lumber Agreement, based on the sources above, but also including text and commentary on the SLA.
$450 million slush fund for Bush from Canadian lumber deal, just in time for the midterms.
Trade Minister Emerson Claims Opposition Parties Opposing the SLA are Anti-American
First of all, my thanks to Lambert Strether for his comment with some excellent information and a viewpoint from America.
The tag line above this article is loosely quoted from Canada.com and © The Canadian Press, 2006 headline from Aug. 31, 2006. I find it interesting that a minister of a minority government can accuse the majority Loyal Opposition of being Anti-American. Is Stephen Harper's government so worried about a possible defeat for the enabling legislation that they have to smear everyone who does not agree with them?
For myself, I am very pro Canadadian but that does not mean that I am anti-American. I am also against the Softwood Lumber Agreement. I believe it is a very bad deal for Canada and far less than we are entitled to under NAFTA. Why should we settle for anything less, and why would our Conservative government coerce the Canadian industry and opposition parties into accepting it?
This reminds me of another Conservative prime minister, Brian Mulroney doing the same things in order to bring about his cherished Meech Lake Accord. It went down in flames in the ensuing refferendum and the sky did not fall. Of course, the party did fall eventually, all the way down to 2 seats in the House of Commons. Could it happen again? I could live with that.
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