Press Release
NDP forestry critic John Rafferty (Thunder Bay-Rainy River) and NDP 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.
“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,” Rafferty argued.
New Democrats also are calling on the government to meet with representatives of AbitibiBowater and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union to help resolve their pension shortfall.
“The finance minister got a nice media hit on Nov. 20 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 Feb. 1 and with the talks down to the wire, he still hasn’t made time for that meeting,” Mulcair said.
“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,” Mulcair added.
