New Democrats demand action on US forestry subsidies and Abitibibowater pension shortfall

OTTAWA – New Democrat Forestry Critic John Rafferty (Thunder Bay – Rainy River) and Deputy Leader Thomas Mulcair (Outremont) are calling on the federal government to assist Canada’s forestry industry by negotiating an end to, or matching, the U.S. Biomass Crop Assistance Program subsidy. New Democrats are also calling on the government to meet with representatives of AbitibiBowater and the Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union to help resolve their pension shortfall.

“The U.S. government continues to deliver billions of dollars in tax loopholes and subsidies for their forestry sector, such as the lapsed Black Liquor regime and the new Biomass Crop Assistance Plan, and the Harper government’s response to this practice has ranged from too late to non-existent,” said Rafferty.

“With more than 275,000 jobs at stake, the choice is simple: save money and get ahead of the problem by negotiating with the Obama administration to end this sort of subsidy, or match the subsidies later for Canadian mills to prevent closures.”

In September, 2009, the U.S. Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) began providing subsidies for the supply of wood biomass for direct or indirect use as a renewable fuel. Natural Resources Canada estimates the program will pay subsidies of $3–10 billion to U.S. mills.

Aside from dealing with the ongoing issue of U.S. subsidies to the forestry sector, Mulcair insisted that the Finance Minister finally meet with representatives from AbitibiBowater and CEP to discuss regulatory changes that could help protect the pensions of 30,000 retired and active workers across Canada.

“The Finance Minister got a nice media hit on November 20th when the government said he would meet with the company and the union to discuss how he could help resolve the pension crisis, but here we are on February 1st and with the talks down to the wire he still hasn’t made time for that meeting,” said Mulcair. “With Parliament prorogued so he can “talk to Canadians,” there is no excuse for him to skip such a meeting that could save 30,000 pensions.”