Edmonton ... Gary Mar, Minister of Alberta International and Intergovernmental Relations, and David C. Coutts, Minister of Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, responded to today's negotiated agreement between Canada and the United States on softwood lumber. A proposed agreement was announced on April 27, 2006. Negotiators have been working since then to finalize the legal text.

"Canada and the U.S. have concluded negotiations on the legal text of the softwood agreement. There are still some important steps both governments and their respective industries must take in order for the agreement to come into force. These include ensuring the U.S. industry and government make a formal commitment to not launch new trade cases, and ensuring the duty refund process works smoothly. The federal government also needs to pass implementing legislation. However, Canada is another step closer to a negotiated settlement of this dispute.

"Alberta, like all provinces and industry groups, will review the entire 80 pages of the agreement to understand how it will affect our province. For the agreement to work for Alberta, it needs to end the current litigation, prevent new litigation while the agreement is in force, allow Alberta to operate our existing forest management system, and provide more predictable terms of access to U.S. markets.

"A first look at the final text suggests it could deliver on these principles most important to Alberta. It will not give us everything we would like, but it may be a workable compromise in light of the cost and uncertainty of ongoing litigation. We commend Alberta negotiators and industry representatives from the Alberta Softwood Lumber Trade Council for their input to the Canadian team during these final, difficult negotiations.

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