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Softwood dispute all about American whine
Kootenay Crust
By Ian Cobb
Canada has always been different from America in that the bottom line is not the final line. Canadians have tended to be wary of the credo: profit over everything else, whereas Americans have lived and died by it.
That difference is a huge reason why the softwood lumber dispute exists.
The root of the softwood dispute is jealousy; simple, basic, childish jealousy by the US lumber industry because it is trapped within the United States and hobbled by a system where greed (best deal possible) has sunk its green teeth into the neck of that industry thanks to private land ownership. They’ve put themselves at a disadvantage from years of greed and their answer to said disadvantage is to blame someone else for having a better system.
When you go south of the line, there is little public land. Cross into British Columbia and 94% of our 944,735 square kilometres is Crown land – which belongs to the people.
Forest industry companies in British Columbia contend with the government over how the land is used and, as said land belongs to the people of B.C. and not some land baron out to soak Weyerhauser (or pick a US company), fairness abides (generally, sort of).
And the Americans just cannot abide by that.
They think Canadian companies should be subjected to the same unfair treatment that US companies are when they seek timber licences. An ever-dwindling supply of land and exorbitant fees to harvest are not Canada’s problem; it is an American problem that has forced US industry owners into lousy positions.
So what is their reaction? Kill Canada! Argghhh; hate; rage; countervailing duties; kick everything but the real cause of their problem; themselves.
Greedy gits. And now said greedy gits have the greediest git of ‘em all in charge and President Little Lord Fauntleroy, dressed in his cowboy costume with red tie Scotch taped down, is talking tough; Nero drunk on wine tough.
How the World Trade Organization responds to this latest bout of blubbering American hyper-self-privilege void of any realization that what happens in other nations in terms of how business is conducted has no bearing on what happens in America, should be telling. The Americans lash out and try to force changes elsewhere when it is their own greedy, short-sighted way of doing things that has landed them in this mess.
Canada has a fairer way of doing things that, in hindsight, also has its problems such as laziness. We remain hewers and vendors of raw wood but still do little with it within our own borders (value added etc.) because it is easier and more immediately profitable to remain lumberjacks than woodworkers. It is time we manufactured and processed more of our own product and relied less on shipping raw materials to repeat backstabbing partners like the Yanks.
Go south of the line to Northern Idaho and northwest Montana and talk to those in the forest industry. Many, especially those who don’t care to really know all details or facts of a given subject (now also known as committed Trump supporters), believe B.C. forestry companies and workers are rat bastards because they have an unfair advantage. Just watch that lot rise up again with bumper stickers proclaiming B.C. greed and “We Support (insert US jurisdiction here) Lumber; Boycott Canada” signs for driveways and storefronts as Trump conducts his latest drive-by shooting.
What those workers should be screaming at and hating on is the system of abuse and greed and monopolization that ran roughshod over the US west when the railway lines were being laid, creating land barons who in turn soaked all who needed the resources on the vast tracts of land they controlled.
It continues today down south. “Waaaah.” They wail, turning to the great snarling orange face of their president, a man of little genuine intellect or awareness of history or fact, and a man whose awareness of the world has been formed from ivory tower hangouts and vacuous television shows, to lead them to freedom from the yoke of Canadian forest industry oppression.
Yes, this is hurting the Canadian dollar and economy and that is what is so infuriating about this latest attempt by America to force another sovereign nation to suffer for America’s weak-mindedness, pushed forward by a sociopathic president living in a dream world where America is still 1950s white picket fences and white supremacy.
The softwood dispute will rage onward, absorbing precious time of leaders on both sides of the border, while working families on each side of the border suffer. In the end, Canada and B.C. will be victorious in the world court and forest industry giants in the US and Canada will be hammered from it. No side wins; there is only. Huge loss; big loss. And isn’t that what Trump is all about; being an a-hole who hurts people by being a selfish swine and getting away with it?
Canada needs the USA just like it needs Canada; about $900 billion in ANNUAL trade is proof of that.
Shall we both rip apart our economies in a mindless trade war because Donald Trump and a few whiney lobbyist corporations want their way, as per usual?
Bloody stupidity, is what it is; whiney, snivelling, wincing, embarrassing weakness derived from always having had their way – ala Lord Trump.
So hang in there B.C. forestry workers and industry; Trump will lose this fight, just as Reagan did and Bush senior.
And in the meantime, it is time Canada locked down its water supply in ironclad sovereign protection (in other words, go have lousy sex with yourself Nestle), to ensure complete rights over it.
Because if the Yanks are coming back on something as feebleminded as the softwood pissing match, what is to stop them from doing something worse, such as declaring they want Canada’s water or have some hyper-privileged right to it?
This latest shot in the softwood war is a clear sign that America cannot, once again, be trusted. This is a nation that will economically attack its closest, and some might argue, only friend without provocation. Is this making America great again? Good luck with that you selfish fools.
Who needs whom the most? America is public enemy number one in the eyes of the majority of the world and its close friends can be counted on one hand. The closest friend? Canada. But for how long if Trump keeps screwing around like a blind and drunk monkey in a China shop?
Time to grow up and accept your shortcomings are your own fault, America. It is time to quit seeking blame whenever you spill your own milk.
The world clearly sees your attempts at deflection and misdirection and you are too arrogant, and a bit too dense, to understand that your games and tricks are clearly understood and are seen coming from miles away by your global trading partners.
Sadly, Canada cannot slap a countervailing duty on US insults and baseless threats – or we’d be a wealthier nation.
– Ian Cobb is owner/editor of e-KNOW
