Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty is fuming over the duties that are expected to be enforced on Canadian softwood lumber.
The anticipated tariffs range from 20 to 24% according to the American Commerce Department.
Doherty says he’s one of many that are frustrated by the lack of urgency in Ottawa.
“Right from the very beginning we raised the issue and let’s be really clear, the government had 18 months to find some form of a solution and the message we got back was well it’s a really hard and complex and file. That’s unacceptable.”
Some tough times are ahead with a not so promising outlook according to Doherty.
“There is going to be a lot of hardship that will negatively impact our small to medium producers throughout our region and right across Canada. Our Canadian softwood provides up to 400,000 jobs and supports up to a million families. There are some troubling times coming down the wire.”
“As we said all along, this is a non-partisan issue as it impacts Canadians from coast to coast to coast and Canadians have been asking for over a year and a half what the plan is and if we got to this point and yet knowing that it was coming down the wire there was still no plan put forth.”
Doherty now expects job layoffs which could affect some of the rural communities in Northern BC.
The new duties are expected to be applied retroactively to any shipments made as of February 1, 2017.