Almost 30 years ago, shortly after B.C. and the U.S. had reached one of the many softwood lumber agreements, the Cariboo Lumber Manufacturers Association held its AGM in Williams Lake.
The guest speaker, a U.S. lumberman, told meeting attendees not to rejoice because if they thought this was the end of the story, they were badly mistaken.
He said U.S. lumbermen would never give up.
Latest headlines indicate he was right. This time the dispute is over the way B.C. sets prices for logs damaged by the mountain pine beetle.
Maybe we should just ignore the U.S. markets and focus on selling our wood to China. China likes our wood. It also has what has been called a “voracious appetite” for Canadian gas and oil deposits.
PetroChina wants to buy some B.C. gas fields from Encana for $5.4 billion.
Canada has managed, more or less, to remain a sovereign nation, even though our economy is mightily dependent on the U.S., so hopefully we can avoid becoming a Chinese colony.
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GGD#2 came to visit the other day. She’s 16 months old, the sister of GGS#1 (he’s four).
Brother found a bubble-blowing kit, and was having a fine time entertaining himself, little sister and the cat, when sister discovered another wand. She had the right idea, kind of.
She stuck the wand in the soap, but instead of blowing at it, she put it in her mouth. When I nixed that approach, she toddled off to investigate other opportunities.
Along with an assortment of photos, I have magnetic letters on our fridge door. When GGD#1 was a toddler, she thought it was her duty to wipe them all off. GGD#2 had the same plan. She was pleased as punch when she had them all off the door and on the floor.
Is this a girl thing? Her brother only wanted to find his initials.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian, and book author.