In a telephone interview last night, Emerson confirmed he raised concerns about the proposal after discussions with the B.C. government and softwood industry. But he said it's a "false story" to suggest his resistance was politically motivated and insisted the deal on the table before the election wasn't good enough for Canada then and isn't now.
Liberals and non-partisan sources tell a different story. They say the B.C. government and its powerful forestry industry only lost interest in the plan after meetings with Emerson. His objections, along with concerns in Paul Martin's office that a pre-election deal would stop the then-prime minister from using George W. Bush as a campaign punching bag, convinced Liberals to delay formal negotiations at least until after the January election.
Informally discussed on parallel tracks here and in the U.S., the plan calls for Washington to reimburse about 75 per of the disputed $5 billion in tariffs imposed on Canadian lumber in return for Ontario and Quebec export quotas. In B.C., there would be higher stumpage fees to keep mills in the province's interior from flooding the U.S. market with cheap wood culled from forests hard-hit by mountain pine beetle infestations.
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Emerson Blocked Deal On Softwood: Liberals
Posted on Thursday, February 09 at 10:02 by 4CanadaContributed By
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The Liberals were playing politics on this from the beginning. They didn't expect to lose this election since at the beginning they were widely expected to win a majority. When Harper pulled ahead after Christmas, it was too late to unveil this inititative, and it was far too risky since the Liberals had to beat the anti-American drums to eke out an existence after that.
While I don't agree with Emerson's cabinet appointment for jumping ship (just like I didn't agree with Belinda), the dirty world of politics prevails, and the Liberals are reaping what they sowed. The story running in all the papers the day after the election was that Harper was shut out of the big 3. Well, he did something (actually two things) to remedy that... which has nullified that arguement to a degree. Good for him, realize where you are weak and do something to fix it immediately.
As for Emerson himself, he has always been right of the Liberal party line (though not as right as the Conservatives). His background was with the lumber companies, and he describes himself as a small-c liberal. This is in line with his personal beliefs, but maybe not with those of his constituents who elected him (but the same could have been said of Stronach before the election where it seems they chose not to punish her... setting her up for being the next leader of the Liberal party - wonder why all the big names are backing out of contention... another acclimation of leader since it seems it is between her and Ignatief?).
So maybe the Conservatives dust off what the Liberals held back for political expediency. There will be some changes and then we'll finally have something done on softwood. Personally, I don't care if it is the Conservatives, the Liberals, the NDP or even the Greens who got something through. We need to get resolution on this (through courts or negotiations), and I applaud anyone who closes it. The Liberals had 12 years to get this done, and they held back for their own reasons (and you can be sure Emerson wasn't the only reason it was delayed). They are only crying about it now to try and either steal thunder if Harper does the deal, or to criticize him further if he is unable to close this in short order. Time will tell.