RELEASE

For Release: Immediate
April 28, 2006

Prime Minister Sells Out: Softwood Deal Abandons Canadians, Says Liberal Natural Resources Critic Roy Cullen

Ottawa - The Honourable Roy Cullen, Official Opposition Critic for Natural Resources, and Member of Parliament for Etobicoke North, today denounced the Prime Minister's softwood lumber deal for abandoning the industry and the people who work in it.

"This so-called deal abandons mill workers and their families, lumber communities, the lumber industry, and Canadians," said Cullen.

"Perhaps the most galling part of this arrangement is that $1 billion has been left on the table. Of that, $500 million will go to the US lumber coalition - the very coalition who has been the antagonist and cause of this dispute," said Cullen.

"It seems the Prime Minister rushed into this because he was desperate to make a deal, for his own political gain, and before the U.S. President used his discretion and appealed the NAFTA decision. In doing so, he has caved in to the Americans, and turned his back on Canada," said Cullen.

"Had the Prime Minister followed through on the Liberal government's offer of $1.5 billion in aid to the industry, there would have been no need to surrender. This is yet another example of the Prime Minister selling out Canadians when dealing with the Americans, and sadly we have seen a pattern of this," said Cullen.

The softwood lumber dispute has never been about alleged subsidies. It has been about limiting the share of Canada's softwood lumber sales to one third of the U.S. market. The agreement signed yesterday limits Canada's market share by mutual agreement, and sets a worrying precedent for the resolution of other Canada-U.S. trade disputes.

For more information, please contact:
David Cuddemi, Executive Assistant
Room 317, West Block
613-995-4702