Federal Industry Minister Melanie Joly said financial relief is coming soon for Canada’s tariff-struck softwood lumber sector.
The minister said in Fredericton Wednesday the government will provide funding through banks, backstopped by the Business Development Bank of Canada, in the “coming days.”
“That’s for supporting, right now, our businesses to make sure that they stay afloat,” Joly said. “Meanwhile, we will make sure that we work on a buy-Canadian policy to have our homes and our major projects and our infrastructure being built with the great softwood from New Brunswick.”
While the vast majority of Canadian trade with the U.S. is exempted from tariffs because of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, U.S. President Donald Trump has targeted the steel, aluminum, auto, energy and lumber sectors with duties.
In August, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a $1.25 billion aid package to support the softwood lumber sector.
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Joly said the funding will go toward ensuring businesses stay afloat while dealing with “unjustifiable” tariffs, adding the government will also offer support for operations and capital expenditures.
The minister said the government funding will be provided based on individual companies’ needs.
“We’re cutting red tape and we’re using the banking system to make sure that funding is available,” she told reporters Wednesday. “It’s not a question of how much each province will have, it’s ultimately what are the needs of the companies across the country.”
The Business Development Bank of Canada said in a news release Wednesday that the program will make it easier for the country’s softwood lumber businesses to access $700 million in new term loans or letters of credit through their primary financial institution.
It said the program was designed after discussions with companies, industry associations and financial institutions.
“BDC emphasized the program is not intended as a cure-all for the sector’s considerable challenges but rather act as a complementary tool with other financial options and government support programs to help these businesses continue to operate and better manage through an ever-evolving situation,” said the news release.
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson said in the release that the forest sector continues to face “unjustified duties” when exporting lumber to the U.S.
“We are working as Team Canada to support and retool our forest sector to protect jobs, strengthen competitiveness and resilience, and Buy Canadian to use more Canadian wood at home,” he said.
Joly said Wednesday she is following the development of the softwood lumber industry closely because it relates to national security.
“Because if one day Canada is not in a time of peace, we need to have steel plants, we need to have aluminum plants, we need to have lumber also,” she said.
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