Part one of the saga is that the current softwood agreement, which incidentally enriched US firms while penalizing Canadian firm, was signed when the dollar was at par. Now that the Canadian dollar is worth 80 cents, it makes Canadian lumber cheaper for Americans. In a true free market environment, something paid lip service to in North America, the cheaper product, assuming equal or better quality, should have the edge in sales. Not so for Americans who have been whipping this dead horse of an issue for years.
Part two began early on in this enduring saga and continues today. As American lumber companies push the punitive issue on Canadian companies, they are playing a waiting game. As Canadian companies buckle under to the financial penalties and contracting markets, the Americans lurk in the shadows ready to pick up the failing Canadian companies for a song. Think I am kidding?
- South Carolina-based Bowater picked off Canadian Avenor Forest Products.
- Oregon's Pope and Talbot bought Harmac Pacific.
- Weldwood of Canada, wholly-owned by US-based Champion International, bought Alberta's Sunpine.
And what did these, and many more good corporate citizens do with their ill gotten booty? They sold the assets off bit by bit and closed a bunch of mills, putting Canadian workers on the street. Do they do this because Canadian mills are obsolete or not making money? No, they do this to eliminate competition.
We are so very stupid in this country that we allow this to go on while apologizing to our tormentors.
2 comments:
In the short run, of course, you are right.
In the long run, however, how does permitting the Americans to shut down the exploitation of natural resources in our country, causing them to accelerate their own resource exploitation, become a bad thing?
In the long run, the Americans will run out of wood faster, and our trees will still be here.
Of course the problem remains that the Americans will own the rights to our resources.
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