PM, Bush Talk Softwood

Pleaseing Harper! Now it's Harpers turn to take the stage. Bush just loves it when Canadians are divided. He knows there is still a chance when an election is coming up in Canada.

It's noted in the US media that there were TWO Canadians and only one American that made the ruling to begin with.

> As well, Mr. Martin pointed out that the dispute is hurting U.S. consumers because it is artificially driving up the cost of lumber, the official said.

Wrong. A common lie that canuks insist on presenting.

Actually, there is a global glut on softwood, and a vast increase of higher quality imported softwood is being supplied from other countries, such as New Zealand, Finland, Russia, ...

That is the fact that canucks refuse to understand. Canuk wood is of poor quality (google "canada wood wane", and assuredly is artifically priced. For the same money, better quallity wood can be bought. Good luck selling to, um, who, exactly?

China looks to Russia for supply. They have railroad connections, y'know.

Y'all're pissin' in the wind.

This is a fabrication anonymous. Due to our proximity to America--it is much cheaper for America to import Canadian wood than European, Kiwi or Russian wood.

Also, there is good wood in Canada but quality has gone down due to the fact that much of the older, virgin timber is long gone--poorer quality wood is then substituted. This will happen to the other countries as well if they follow our model--which is unsustainable clearcutting.

Finland is smarter, they manage their forests much better, as do the Swedes and the Swiss.

We don't need to sell abroad if we manufacture more furniture here. As for spruce, well time for Canada to develop more secondary and tertiary indsutries I guess.

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The midget, Bush, and that Rumsfield deserve only to be beaten with shoes by freedom loving people everywhere.

- Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, The Iraqi Informat

No one forces anyone to buy "inferior?" Canadian softwood. Don't like the quality, find another supplier, it's much like finding another market. Perturbed has a point when life gives you softwood lumber, make furniture, value added is a good thing. The US need should not feel obligated to buy our "inferior" wood and could get back to using their own supply.

Every American contractor I've talked to prefers Canadian lumber to that grown in the US. While the quality of Canadian lumber has declined (check the span charts over the years), it is still of better quality than that grown by and for the US lumber barons who have lobbied for this illegal tariff.

I did google as the anon suggested. Wood milling standards are North America wide. The first link that came up stated that although Europe has higher standards for wane for A grade and framing lumber, most newer Canadian mills produce softwood with higher than acceptable North American standards for warp, wane and twisting of the wood. Googling for European standards finds that B frame grade softwood allows for looser standards than most Canadian mills produce WRT wane.

I agree with Rev. I assume Anon that the highway/railway to Europe and Russia should be complete anytime now? That'll help the US import that wonderful Russian Spruce and Fir.




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"If you must kill a man, it costs you nothing to be polite about it." Winston Churchill

There may be a tax but that don't mean the wood is no longer being sent across the border. Paper mills and local lumber mills are paying the higher price in Canada. Local BC mills are shutting down because they can't get affordable logs. The huge logging companies are shipping raw logs to the states as fast as they cut it. The Americans still get the softwood, but because they mill it themselves must mean the wood isn't Canadian nor the logs subject to the same stumpage fee.

I hope that George Bush was sober when Paul Martin spoke to him.

Rev and you, the railway link exists, and is direct between Russia and China. What part of that escaped your comprehension? Don't count on making money shipping wood to China, when a competing supplier is closer (and cheaper).

Similarly, the imports of higher quality wood are increasing to the USA, from all over the world.

Eastern Canadian wood is of poor quality: "National Lumber Grades Authority (NLGA) rules for structural lumber permit a certain amount of wane, and most Canadian sawmills are optimised to incorporate the maximum allowable wane under NLGA rules. This is especially true in Eastern Canada, where logs are smaller. Wane has not traditionally been a problem in the North American building construction market, but Canada´s main competitors (e.g., Sweden, Austria, Finland) provide European markets with wane-free lumber."

The excessive wane in studs found in N.A. is not the current issue, beyond demonstating Canada is a suppier of lousy wood. Check out a palette at Home Depot, or wherever. Most of them exhibit wane. Hell, studs made out of aluminum are used for quality now, as plywood is increasingly replaced with OSB.

The profitable market for wood products is moving upscale (where real wood is needed, or appreciated). That is why the imports of higher quality logs from New Zealand, Sweden, Austria, Finland, are taking place.

Boltwood (veneer), furniture, trim.

Of course, Canadian poor-quality trash pulpwood is always welcome for the newsprint industry - at your environmental expense, on your massive clearcuts.

The global glut of timber harvest is NOT good news for Canada.

Your next homework: google "global timber oversupply"