How Come They Didn't Blame Small Paul?

CapitulationForADisappearingNation
AnschlussRisingAllOverAgainVille


Or, Chretien, or Trudeau, or, heckfire, even John Turner?

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - The sawmill closures rocking Eastern Canada's lumber industry cannot be blamed on the U.S.-Canada softwood trade agreement that went into force on Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

Both Harper and Trade Minister David Emerson said the industry is caught in a cyclical downturn of North America's housing market, and that the situation would be worse without the deal.

"The softwood lumber deal is necessary to provide stability for our industry in the future, but it's not sufficient, and the government will be coming forward with additional measures to help," Harper told reporters in Toronto.

Sure, sure Mr. Harper and Quisling.

Except that, the thing is, it is only when prices fall that your stinking deal really gets putrid for the country formerly known as Canuckistan.

From the same Reuters article by Allan Dowd:

At current prices, the seven-year deal will see many Canadian producers begin paying a 15 percent export tax on their shipments to the United States instead of the U.S. duties of just over 10 percent they had been paying.

Canada's tax is linked to the composite price of lumber in the U.S. market, ending only when it reaches $355 per thousand board feet. Current cash prices are between $250 and $252, according to industry publication Random Lengths

So keep on tightening those the economic lever thumbscrews H&Q.

Because, apparently, as long as we get money back from high-priced hockey sticks, we love it.

.