Canadian Forestry: Kind of a Kick In The Head

Filed in archive Taxes on January 23, 2007

Do any of our readers have information about what is going on in Canadian forestry? I was reading the Toronto Star and ran across this article:

"The company told us they wouldn't sell it to anyone who would compete with them," said Brunet. "So here's an American company that came in, bought our mill and shut it down.

"But they're still in the woods cutting as we speak. They're cutting on the land that came with the mill when they bought that property."

Officials from a number of other communities had similar stories of shuttered mills kept from resale while owners continue to use timber-cutting and water rights. Via Forest industry in crisis, union says

So the Americans tax our lumber when it crosses our borders, which puts the industry in crisis, then they come in and buy the mills and shut them down?

Is what we are seeing in Canadian Forestry the same thing we saw happen to the garment industry? Offshore competition, import duties, and industry restructuring?

What am I missing here? Educate me, please.