Softwood lumber, a national transportation corridor, affordable housing and speeding up big projects were among the topics of a “productive” meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney, B.C. Premier David Eby says.
The pair met Monday in Victoria, days after the U.S. Department of Commerce announced plans to more than double U.S. duties on Canadian softwood lumber to 34.5 per cent.
Eby said the conversation touched on using more B.C. mass timber to build housing as a response.
“At a time when Canadian forestry exports are facing an escalation in an ongoing trade war, we welcome an opportunity to meet the growing domestic and international demand for value-added wood products,” Eby said in a statement.
“The American president’s renewed assault on our forestry sector needs the same Team Canada response as the manufacturing and auto industry jobs in Ontario and Quebec. The prime minister confirmed his understanding of the seriousness of the softwood issue and his commitment to work with us to address it proactively.”
Eby said British Columbia was fully behind the “Team Canada” approach, and that the province’s “expectation” is that “other provinces will support us too.”
He added that regardless of the outcome of the federal election, the province needs a government in Ottawa ready to help address transportation bottlenecks and improved skilled trades training.
Carney, who was on a campaign swing in Victoria, has yet to comment on the meeting.
He told reporters ahead of the meeting that it’s not his first time talking with Eby about softwood lumber and Canada’s response to the broader trade dispute with the United States.
He says “we’re going to fight, protect and build.”
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Asked about the U.S. plan during an earlier press conference in the Victoria area, Carney told reporters “these tariffs are wholly unjustified.”
He says he recognizes the importance of the industry that supports tens of thousands of workers and the federal government is stepping up on their behalf.
“This is another unjustified tariff. You can expect us to fight against it.”
Carney said there is an opportunity to play to B.C.’s strengths in modular housing and mass timber as the federal government looks to speed up homebuilding.
Carney pointed to his Liberals’ recent campaign pledge to implement a national housing strategy with the goal of building half a million homes a year, doubling the current rate, and said supporting Canadian lumber is part of that effort.
“We do have that ambition to build in this country, to use our resources.”
The BC Lumber Trade Council has issued a statement urging the U.S. Commerce Department to reverse its preliminary decision, saying the higher levies would hurt workers on both sides of the border and drive up lumber prices for Americans.
Council president Kurt Niquidet says B.C. does not subsidize its lumber industry and the U.S. duties are “unjustified and harmful.”
Rather, he says B.C.’s system is grounded in market principles, with timber sold through open, competitive auctions.
“Claims that B.C.’s system provides an unfair advantage are simply not supported by the facts. Commerce continues to employ flawed and misleading methodologies, resulting in the higher rates,” the statement says.
The federal New Democrats also issued a statement from several candidates from Vancouver Island, where many people and communities depend on the industry.
“The forest industry is taking a hit. The current softwood lumber tariffs are already devastating — this will be crippling,” says Gord Johns in Courtenay-Alberni.
“What we need right now is to build hospitals, bridges and houses — and let’s do it using Canadian lumber and steel.”
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