FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MARCH 15, 2018

 MP RACHEL BLANEY STATEMENT ON U.S. UNFAIR TARIFFS AGAINST CATAYLST PAPER

POWELL RIVER — The new United States Department of Commerce unfair tariffs on exports of Catalyst Paper`s products made at the mill here will be a top priority for the NDP when Parliament resumes in Ottawa next week. Catalyst Paper currently operates mills in Powell River, on BC’s mainland, and in Port Alberni and Crofton, on Vancouver Island.

We will fight for our workers, their jobs and this industry that has been hit with this second round of punitive tariffs. We need leadership, not lip service, from the prime minister to protect these jobs. We cannot wait and hope that President Trump will one day treat Canada as a fair trading partner. That is not an effective response to these American protectionist measures that threaten the sustainability of the industry and pose a real threat to many communities like Powell River. There`s millions of dollars in payroll, taxes and other investments at stake.

The large NDP caucus from British Columbia and Quebec know firsthand the damage these tariffs pose. There is much work to do to overturn these preliminary decisions before the final determination of both the countervailing duty and anti-dumping duty expected in early August 2018.  We will be pressing the government to defend this industry from further hardship.

It has been four months since the U.S. hit our forestry industry with duties on softwood lumber affecting over 200,000 Canadian workers; and now the Department of Commerce has hit Canada with another 22 percent countervailing duty on uncoated groundwood paper.

An estimated $64 billion dollars could be lost and half a million Canadians could see their job impacted by the imposed tariffs and duties from the U.S. The paper affected by the tariffs is used for newspapers, directories, flyers, catalogues and books.