Conservative Government & Softwood Lumber - 2006-08-21
Is it just me that believes the government is supposed to work for it's citizens and businesses? The present government seems to think that it only has to work for us as long as we agree with it, otherwise, we're on our own. They used to talk about Liberal arrogance! The Conservatives take arrogance to a whole new level.
David Emery has set today as the deadline for the lumber industry to sign on to his deal with the US on softwood lumber trade. Apparently, if the industry as a whole does not agree to this deal, the government is going to drop the whole issue and let the lumber industry flounder on it's own in dealing with the US. So now the lumber producing provinces and the lumber industry must hold their nose and accept the agreement as it stands whether they agree with it or not.
My understanding of this deal is that it is much the same deal that Emery negotiated when he was a Liberal but was rejected as not good enough for Canadians. Now we have a government that's seems to be more interested in pleasing the US administration than Canadian citizens and the deal is good enough.
I always thought that the government had a responsibility to listen to it's citizens and act on their behalf rather than dictate the terms and tell the population what they must agree to. Another example of the Reform Alliance Conservative party being out of step with the country and the democratic system in general. They seem to believe that democracy is equivalent to dictatorship.
Softwood Lumber (the continuing story) - 2006-10-19
The Harper conservative government's softwood lumber deal with the US is finally complete.
Two days after the deal was completed a US federal court decided that Canada was in the right and was entitled to reimbursement of the full $5 billion plus in tariffs collected by the US. Unfortunately the Harper deal negates this court ruling and the US gets to keep $1,000,000,000.00 of the $5 billion. In addition to this travesty, because the price of lumber in the US is now low, our government has to impose a 15% export tax on softwood lumber according to the agreement.
In their rush to kiss American ass with this deal, they've really screwed the Canadian lumber industry. They used to complain about the Liberals wasting money. Six months in office and they've blown the huge surplus they inherited on useless programs, cut social programs and gave away $1,000,000,000.00. Can we afford this government?
