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OTTAWA - (Web posted March 7, 2002 @ 4:10 p.m.)
International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew pledged to seek exemption for
lumber remanufacturers and red cedar exports in any softwood lumber trade deal
with the United States in the House of Commons on Monday.  "Unfettered
market access is not going to be bartered away," the minister said after
repeated questions from the Canadian Alliance on the issue.
"We have been asking for the exclusion
and the exemption of red cedar. We are asking for the exemption of
remanufacturers as well."
Pettigrew is under increasing pressure to
obtain a softwood lumber deal with the Americans that will provide access to the
American market for Canadian lumber producers, most of whom are based in British
Columbia, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.
The American lumber lobby has argued Canada
subsidizes its industry and dumps the products south of the border at below
market value.
As a result, the U.S. hit Canadian timber
products with duties as high as 32 per cent last year.
If both sides fail to reach a softwood
lumber deal by March 21, the U.S. Department of Commerce could make a 19.3 per
cent countervailing duty permanent.
 On
Monday a delegation of British Columbia's lumber industry, led by B.C. Forestry
Minister Michael de Jong, was in Ottawa to talk about the negotiations.
Tens of thousands of jobs are at stake in
that province, and CA leader John Reynolds asked Pettigrew to commit to a
bi-national softwood lumber commission that could avoid a future Canada-U.S.
lumber dispute.
Pettigrew, however, would only say his
desire is to obtain a long-term policy based solution.
That solution may come this month.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien is scheduled to
visit Washington this week and he has promised to raise the issue with President
George Bush.
"I hope to have good results before the
end of the month," said Chretien in the House of Commons.
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