U.S. more than doubles Canadian softwood duties, starting immediately
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A statement from the American department says the duty for most Canadian companies is being increased to 14.63 per cent, up from 6.74 per cent, after it determined softwood lumber from Canada was being unfairly subsidized.
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The increase is on top of a recent jump in anti-dumping duties to 20.56 per cent, bring the total duty level for Canadian softwood to 35.19 per cent.
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The council says both the Canadian and U.S. governments need to make resolving the long-standing softwood lumber dispute a top economic priority.
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'In the absence of a negotiated settlement, BCLTC will continue working closely with the Government of Canada and industry partners to defend Canadian interests through all available legal channels, including proceedings under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement,' the statement says.
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The BC Council of Forest Industries says the provincial government needs to take action including streamlining permitting processes, activating provincial timber sales and removing cross-ministry bottlenecks.
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'With the right policy tools, B.C. can send a strong message that it is committed to creating a climate where primary and secondary forest manufacturers want to invest, ensuring a steady supply of wood products for B.C., Canada, and beyond,' president Kim Haakstad said in a statement.
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Toronto Sun
22 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
The controversy over Canada's rules on military exports to Israel, explained
Published Aug 10, 2025 • 7 minute read Sen. Yuen Pau Woo, facilitator of the Independent Senators Group, speaks to reporters after the vote on Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act in the Senate on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 19, 2018. Photo by Justin Tang / THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA — A Canadian senator is calling on Ottawa to be more transparent on its policy to restrict arms exports to Israel, following contradictory reports about what manufacturers have been allowed to send to the Middle East. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'I'm horrified to hear this news about certain arms exports and parts going to Israel, directly or indirectly,' Sen. Yuen Pau Woo said in an interview with The Canadian Press. 'Civilians are being killed and starved, and the Israeli government has only made things worse.' Ottawa insists it hasn't been allowing exports of lethal weapons to Israel and has been blocking any military goods that could be used in Gaza. Here's a look at what we know — and don't know — about Ottawa's efforts to keep Canadian weapons out of Gaza while allowing Israel to import military goods for other purposes. What is Canada holding back from Israel? In March 2024, Parliament voted in favour of a non-binding motion to halt new arms permits for Israel. The government announced a review of export permits and suspended about 30 of them to determine whether they involved lethal uses. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Ottawa has allowed all other military export permits for Israel to continue. There were 164 such permits used to export military goods to Israel in 2024, and some of them are valid for years. Of the 30 suspended permits, some have expired and the rest remain suspended, says Global Affairs Canada. In March 2024, the office of then-foreign affairs minister Melanie Joly said that none of the valid permits allowed for the export of 'lethal goods' to Israel, such as weapons technology and equipment. Her office also said Canada stopped approving permits for Israel on Jan. 8, 2024, citing human rights concerns. While Israel's foreign minister suggested at the time the decision would undermine Israel's ability to defend itself, Israeli Ambassador Iddo Moed said 'we will be able to continue to defend ourselves.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. What is Canada still allowing into Israel? Ottawa has said its restrictions exclude 'non-lethal' equipment. The government provided Parliament with a list of all existing permits in June 2024. The list mentions circuit boards well over a hundred times. In September 2024, after the U.S. State Department approved the purchase of mortar cartridges made in Quebec for Israel, Joly said Canadian-made weapons were prohibited from reaching the Gaza Strip. 'We will not have any form of arms or parts of arms be sent to Gaza, period,' Joly said at the time. 'How they're being sent and where they're being sent is irrelevant.' Anand said in an Aug. 1 statement that this pledge actually goes back to January 2024. Groups like Project Ploughshares argue the term 'non-lethal' is poorly defined and misleading. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Activists say Israel can use Canadian-made components such as lenses and cameras in the Gaza war and in military campaigns in the West Bank, despite Ottawa saying Israel is violating international law in both theatres. What does Israeli customs data say? In late July, pro-Palestinian activists reported that the Israel Tax Authority had listed publicly imports from Canada that were officially recorded in customs data as bullets, guns and other weapons. The data suggested 175,000 bullets were sent from Canada to Israel under the customs code that Israel uses for 'munitions of war and parts thereof,' with three similar shipments in 2024. Israeli customs agents recorded another Canadian shipment in the category of 'tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, motorized, whether or not fitted with weapons, and parts of such vehicles.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It took the Canadian government three days to respond to the claims. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand's office said it took the time 'to verify if any of the serious allegations of wrongdoing were true.' In her reply, Anand said the report was flawed and its findings 'are misleading and significantly misrepresent the facts.' The bullets were 'paintball-style projectiles' that cannot be used in combat, Anand's office said. Sen. Woo called that explanation trivializing and suggested Israel is likely using those materials to train its soldiers. Woo was among 32 senators — a third of the Senate — who called for a thorough investigation into what's reaching Israel from Canada. He called Anand's statement 'very limited, slippery and highly defensive.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'She missed an opportunity to grasp the gravity of the situation in Gaza,' he said. What about aircraft? Advocates argue Canadian components are being used in Israeli fighter jets and drones, citing exports of items such as circuit boards and scopes or cameras. The July report noted that specific companies in Israel receiving Canadian imports have also been equipping Israel's offensive in Gaza. The report pointed to no direct, explicit evidence that Canadian arms had been used on the ground in Gaza. Ottawa insists it is doing everything it can to ensure Canadian components aren't used in Gaza. What about that parliamentary report? On Aug. 4, the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council released a report assembled by the Library of Parliament that it said disproves much of what the government has claimed. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The July 8 report is marked 'not to be published' and the Library of Parliament said in a statement that it 'provides impartial customized research services for individual parliamentarians,' on the basis that the 'client's research request (will) remain confidential.' The government says the report is a rehash of publicly available information that doesn't contradict what the government has said publicly. Advocates seized on the portion of the report showing two arms permits to send goods to Israel were issued in 2024. Anand's office noted the permits were disclosed to Parliament last June and were issued on Jan. 8, 2024, the day Ottawa stopped issuing new permits. The advocates also noted that the report cited $2.3 million in Canadian sales to Israel listed as 'bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles, other explosive devices and charges and related accessories, components and equipment.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Anand's spokesman James Fitz-Morris wrote that these were 'electronic components for detection equipment' in Israel's Iron Dome system, which intercepts and destroys incoming rockets. RECOMMENDED VIDEO Did Carney change the Trudeau government's policy? While the government insists it hasn't changed policies, its language has shifted. Joly and her office spoke about non-lethal uses for arms. Anand has avoided that language. 'For a year and a half, we have been clear: if an export permit for an item used to protect civilians is requested, it will be approved,' her office wrote in a statement this week. 'Canada has not approved the export of any lethal weapons or munitions to Israel since January 2024, and any such permit that could have allowed such items were suspended and remains inactive today.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Woo said Anand is 'prevaricating, with the shift in language and … an effort to try to be legalistic about the government's adherence to its own promise.' Fitz-Morris wrote that it would be 'a disingenuous claim, at best' to suggest Ottawa's language has been shifting. 'The government's position has not changed. Minister Anand is not reading from a script. She uses different words sometimes to convey the same message or to add clarity, depending on the circumstances and what she is responding to,' he wrote. 'The only permits that may be granted are for the items used to defend civilians, such as the Iron Dome, and items that are transiting through Israel as part of the global supply chain such as items (whose) end-users include Canada and/or NATO allies.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Why not end all arms exports to Israel? The government says it would compromise the complex supply chains that Canada and its allies rely on if Canada refused to export military goods to Israel, or to import them from that country. 'Any consideration of a two-way arms embargo that would block Israeli-made components from entering Canada would need to take into consideration the impact that would have on Canada, including the (Canadian Armed Forces),' Fitz-Morris wrote. Sen. Woo said Anand should halt all military trade with Israel. 'She's digging a deeper hole for herself and for our government, particularly if there are in fact legal consequences around complicity, aiding and abetting war crimes,' he said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'We are witnessing, in the memorable words of Amnesty International, a live-streamed genocide. It's tearing at our souls.' Israel says it's in an existential war of self-defence and blames Hamas for the high casualty count. What do Canadians want? In an online survey of 1,522 Canadians conducted by the Angus Reid Institute from July 31 to Aug. 5, 54 per cent said they want Ottawa to ensure Canada is not selling lethal military equipment to Israel. One-fifth of respondents said they want the restrictions dropped. Another 27 per cent said they were unsure or opted not to respond. Is the government being transparent? 'The Government of Canada tables regular reports concerning arms exports and has provided thousands of pages of documentation to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs — which the committee then published to its website,' Fitz-Morris wrote. That's not good enough, Woo said. 'To play with words, when a genocide is happening before our very eyes … it's scandalous,' he said. Columnists Toronto & GTA Sunshine Girls Sports Sunshine Girls
Toronto Sun
22 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
Greener steel arrives in Canada to a market in turmoil and future unclear
Published Aug 10, 2025 • 5 minute read Steam rises as water is poured over hot steel at Algoma's Direct Strip Production Complex in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Photo by Justin Tang / THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — Like some superhero channelling the power of lightning, Algoma Steel Inc. has started using the heat cast off by the arcs of powerful electric currents to make greener steel. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Electric arc furnaces are nothing new — the technology is more than a century old, and there's already a few in Canada — but Algoma is calling the achievement of production from its first of the kind furnace last month a win as it faces an existential threat from U.S. tariffs. 'We have reached a truly pivotal milestone for Algoma and the Canadian steel industry,' said chief executive Michael Garcia on a recent earnings call. 'Despite the uncertainty that the trade war has unleashed, this achievement reinforces our confidence in our transformation strategy.' Part of that strategy has been to dramatically reduce emissions in an attempt to differentiate its products; it even trademarked Volta as the name for its cleaner steel that it plans to produce from a mix of low-emission iron feed and scrap metal. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But experts say the project is coming online as the market for green steel, and the metal more generally, faces turmoil from tariffs and price pressures, making it unclear what financial advantages producers may get from the big upfront investments needed. 'The question is, will the demand be there? Is there going to be sufficient demand in North America for green steel?' said Chris Bataille, who researches the steel transition as an adjunct research fellow at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy. 'The U.S. was starting to move fairly quickly in terms of moving to electric vehicles and to cleaner steel and everything else under the last administration, but now we've got a complete U-turn.' Steel emissions had been a priority in the U.S., and remains one in Canada, because using coal to produce steel is so emissions intensive. Globally, steel production makes up about eight per cent of carbon emissions, according to the International Energy Agency. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But while it makes sense from an emissions perspective, buyers willing to pay a premium for the more eco-friendly steel have mostly been limited to the auto sector, said Bataille. European automakers have been paying a premium of as much as 40 per cent for the cleaner material, since they can use it for marketing while only adding a little to the end cost of a car, but the more important building sector has been more hesitant, he said. There is still demand in Europe, a region Canada has looked to diversify its exports, but with tariffs causing disruption there too it's not clear how much potential there is, said trade expert Tommaso Ferretti. 'There is a structural demand in Europe, but to what extent that structural demand will remain in place, it's a big question mark,' said the assistant professor at the University of Ottawa's Telfer School of Management. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Garcia himself has warned that Algoma doesn't see much potential to sell to Europe, or anywhere else internationally. 'We can put our steel on an ocean-going ship here in Sault Ste. Marie, but getting it to an export customer in Europe or elsewhere, there just aren't those opportunities right now. I don't think that there'll be a lot of those opportunities going forward, to be frank,' he said. The challenges help explain why the other flagship green steel project in Canada, at ArcelorMittal's Hamilton, Ont., operations, is stuck in neutral. The company made a big show of announcing in 2022 that it was moving ahead with a $1.8-billion project to move to green steel _ but the last updates show the project is still at the engineering stage, with a spokesperson confirming there are no new milestones to report. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Wider oversupply issues in the industry that have pushed down prices is part of the problem, as are doubts about policies like carbon pricing, said Bataille. 'There's some uncertainty about how fast the transition will go. … It's just a difficult business to make a buck, to be honest.' ArcelorMittal said in its latest sustainability report in April that it doesn't expect green steel projects to be economical until the 2030s, and that policies will be needed to address the high capital and operational costs. RECOMMENDED VIDEO Federal and provincial governments in Canada have already stepped in to help out with capital costs. Algoma received $420 million to help cover the more than $880 million cost of its project, while ArcelorMittal was offered $900 million to help ease its overall costs. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But unlike Algoma, ArcelorMittal's plans also include building a plant in Hamilton to remove oxygen from iron ore using hydrogen, rather than coal — a process that remains expensive, leading to several recent project cancellations. ArcelorMittal itself just cancelled two green steel projects in Germany in June, citing high electricity prices, while last year it noted the future of several other of its European steel projects is unclear because 'there is limited willingness among customers to pay premiums for low-carbon emissions steel.' Cleveland-Cliffs, which bought Hamilton-based Stelco Holdings Inc. last year, recently shelved plans for green steel conversion at a U.S. plant that already had US$500 million in government funding secured. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Lourenco Goncalves, chief executive of Cleveland-Cliffs, cited the lack of clear hydrogen supply as part of the reason for cancelling the project. He said on a July earnings call that plans to revamp the operation using existing resources, including 'beautiful coal,' generates a very good conversation with the current U.S. Department of Energy. Ferretti worries that the pressures the industry is facing will also mean less investment in research and development to try and bring costs down. He said there needs to be even greater collaboration between the public and private sector for the critical industry to chart a path forward. 'The real question in fact is to see … the collaboration between the companies, the steel manufacturers, Canadian government, and their ability to reinvent themselves.' For Bataille, that path could include using Canada's vast renewable energy and iron ore deposits to build a direct reduction plant for processing closer to the source, and then shipping the already oxygen-reduced iron around the world. 'You could triple the value of those exports,' said Bataille. 'So on the one hand we face headwinds and the Chinese overcapacity continues, but on the other hand, I think there's new possibilities open in shipping green iron places that, you know, we hadn't considered before.' Columnists Columnists Sunshine Girls Sports Toronto & GTA
Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Toronto Sun
KINSELLA: Polls suggest Mark Carney doing a fine job as PM
Despite missteps, Canadians overwhelmingly approve of his performance Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (R), flanked by Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, speaks during a press conference after a Cabinet meeting to discuss both trade negotiations with the US and the situation in the Middle East, at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on July 30, 2025. Photo by DAVE CHAN / AFP via Getty Images How is Mark Carney doing? This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The polls suggest he's doing just fine. Here's a summary: – Carney's Liberals are ahead by an astonishing 23 points in Ontario and 27 points in Quebec, says the aggregator Polling Canada – Nanos gives the Grits an 11-point lead over the Tories, and a 32-point lead over the NDP, and says that Carney more than doubles (51%) Poilievre (23%) for preferred Prime Minister – A Polling Canada seat projection suggests that all means 196 seats for Carney and only 121 for Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives – Angus Reid Institute says almost 60% of the country approve of Carney's performance Read More Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It's Summertime, Tories and Dippers will say. No one is paying attention to Ottawa, they'll insist. And there's some truth to that. Carney is still in his honeymoon, they'll also claim. It's early days. He hasn't been tested. Except: Mark Carney has been tested. He has. And, on multiple files – particularly those involving international affairs – he hasn't met the standard he's set for himself. Canadians are still giving him the benefit of the doubt, however. Overwhelmingly, they still approve of his performance. Consider: Carney clearly believed he could craft a trade deal with Donald Trump – and avoid Trump's tariffs. He dispatched his most-senior, most-trusted advisors – elected and not – to Washington, for weeks, to hammer out a deal. He, they, failed. They came home with their tails between their legs. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Some – including this writer – believe that trying to reach an agreement with Trump was always a fool's errand. The U.S. President passionately believes in tariffs, and no amount of politesse and cajoling is ever going to change that. It was surprising that Carney ever thought he could. Another Carney misstep, and again on the foreign policy front: recognizing Palestine. A few days ago, the Liberal Prime Minister appeared before the Press Gallery and insisted he had secured the agreement of the Palestine Authority (PA) to hold general elections in 2026, in which Hamas would play no part. It was the stuff of utter fantasy. The PA is an undemocratic, corrupt farce, one that doesn't have the power or the wherewithal to get Hamas – or the PFLP, or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or anyone, really – to do anything. But Carney stood before the assembled media and insisted that the PA would deliver. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. As his PMO said: 'Prime Minister Carney welcomed President Abbas' commitment to these reforms.' There will be no reforms. There will be no general elections. Hamas will not be removed from power anytime soon. And a two-state solution? It ended on Oct. 7, 2023. But Canadians seemingly don't care about the reality on the ground, or have boundless faith in Carney's approach. Fully half of the country, says Leger, believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Trade with Mexico? As with the other international initiatives, a familiar pattern is seen: lots of sizzle, but not much steak. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand travelled to Mexico City to meet President Claudia Sheinbaum to boost economic ties. But Sheinbaum said there was 'no need' for a separate trade deal with Canada. Meanwhile, Mexico – unlike Canada – had been given a months-long exemption from Trump tariffs. It's a depressing downward cycle – many promises from Mark Carney about our relationship with the rest of the world but not much in the way of results. The Prime Minister clearly isn't fussed. His two main opponents are effectively leaderless, the House of Commons is recessed, and he's riding high in the polls. For now, he's got nothing to worry about. Columnists Sunshine Girls Toronto & GTA Sports Sunshine Girls
