If someone offered you over $4 billion, you'd probably be happy, right? Canada's federal government certainly is. This week it signed a historic softwood agreement that would return billions held in escrow by the United States. But not everyone is thrilled by the deal. As we hear in this clip, the agreement has a few significant wrinkles. Chief among them: Canadian taxpayers must front the money owed to Canadian lumber producers, at least until the Americans pony up.

• The seven-year renewable agreement would see the Americans return about $4 billion of the $5 billion in punitive duties collected from Canadian lumber producers. The United States would get about $1 billion to help communities affected by the dispute. The deal was signed on Sept. 12, 2006, by international trade minister David Emerson and U.S. trade representative Susan Schwab.

• The softwood deal had been endorsed by the governments of Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia – Canada's biggest lumber producing provinces. But several opposition critics and independent lumber producers accused the government of selling out to the Americans, and bullying Canadians into accepting the deal.

• One issue was an announcement that lumber companies that did not support the deal – and refused to help pay the $1 billion that would go to the U.S. – would be hit with a 19 per cent "special charge."

• The deal also required lumber companies to drop any lawsuits they had brought against the United States.

• Because bureaucratic red tape was expected to delay payments to Canadian lumber companies for several years, the Canadian federal government assumed responsibility for paying the refunds. It promised to make the payments as quickly as possible, and collect the money owed from the Americans when it could. In return for assuming this risk, the government would collect the interest owed and keep any funds that were not claimed.

• Following the deal with the U.S., Canada's federal government announced that it would stake its political future on the softwood deal. Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared that the bill he planned to introduce when Parliament resumed would be a confidence motion. That meant an election would likely be called if the bill were defeated.

• The agreement would still have to pass a vote in the House of Commons, where the Tories held a minority. But in September 2006, the Bloc Québécois announced that it would support the deal, ensuring it would pass.

Medium: Radio
Program: As It Happens
Broadcast Date: Sept. 11, 2006
Hosts: Barbara Budd, Carol Off
Guest(s): Simon Potter
Duration: 5:31