Oct. 27 - During the visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Canada earlier this week, the Secretary repeatedly stated that Canada needs to return to the negotiating table to resolve the softwood lumber dispute. The BC Lumber Trade Council fully supports the position of the Government of Canada that we will only return to the table once the U.S. gives Canada a sign of good faith.

"We are not going to return to the negotiating table until we have reason to believe the U.S. will honour agreements we enter into with them," said John Allan, president of the BC Lumber Trade Council. "In August Canada won a critical NAFTA decision, that should have ended the softwood lumber litigation and resulted in the elimination of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders and the refund of all $5 billion dollars in estimated duties the Canadian industry has paid over the past three years," said Allan. "Instead of complying with that decision, the U.S. chose to flout the rules of the NAFTA and maintain the duties as if the NAFTA ruling was irrelevant," he added.

"It is now imperative for the U.S. to provide Canada with a signal that it is prepared to honour its commitments and negotiate a fair agreement that will be respected by all parties," said Allan.

The BC Lumber Trade Council is the voice for companies in British Columbia representing the vast majority of BC lumber production. Its member companies account for about half of Canadian lumber production and half of Canadian lumber exports to the United States.