SOFTWOOD: MLA Industry Not Happy

Simpson says a July 1 letter from Ken Dobell, a senior bureaucrat in Forests Minister Rich Coleman's office, formalized the British Columbia position. "It's what we've been saying all along," Simpson said. When the Americans revised the deal at the last moment they inserted an opt-out clause which could result in either side cancelling the agreement before the seven-year term, he says B.C. lumber industry rebelled. "B.C. industry says these operating rules make the deal not economically viable," Simpson said. Simpson says by leaving it up to industry to veto the deal the Canadian government gets off the hook politically with the Bush administration in the United States. http://www.wltribune.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=37&cat=23&id=686987&more=

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