Good morning.
Despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s penchant for name-calling and insults – the prime minister of Canada as governor? – Canadian politicians have been scrupulous about avoiding doing the same.
B.C. Premier David Eby got close last week when he announced that his province would pull the remainder of U.S. alcohol from its government-dominated liquor store shelves. Previously, B.C. was targeting only brands manufactured in Trump-voting states.
But in expanding the ban, Eby said Trump could “keep his watery beer.”
That was hardly an egregious epithet. According to industry group Beer Canada, 88 per cent of all beer consumed in Canada was made in Canadian breweries, suggesting Canadian beer drinkers take Eby’s statement as fact. No need to promote the Canadian product at the expense of American competitors.
Canadian lumber producers aren’t following suit.
Despite decades of a fractious trade relationship between softwood producers in Canada and those in the U.S., the Canadian softwood lumber industry hasn’t liked to trumpet what it considers the superiority of its product because, as The Globe and Mail’s forestry reporter Brent Jang writes this week, the two markets are so intertwined. Production has increased at U.S. sawmills in the past decade, including at facilities owned by companies with head offices in Canada.
That’s now changing, with Canadian producers wanting to make plain to consumers in Canada, in the U.S. and no doubt, to potential new markets around the world, that the spruce, pine and fir grown north of the 49th parallel is a superior product.
“U.S. beer is considered by Canadians to be average, pretty watery and kind of boring,” said Vancouver-based forestry analyst Russ Taylor. “Canadian beer is premium, you might say, just like Canadian lumber is premium.”
That’s because the growth rings are tighter than those found in the lumber in the U.S. South.
It takes from 70 to 100 years before spruce, pine and fir (SPF) trees are considered ripe for harvesting in the B.C. Interior. By comparison, the growing season in the milder climate of the U.S. South means southern yellow pine trees are harvested after about 35 years.
Tighter growth rings result in quality two-by-four or two-by-six SPF boards for home builders, meaning walls that will stay straight.
“Southern yellow pine has wider growth rings. Therefore, it twists more and it warps and splits more easily,” said Josh Sawatzky, owner of Madera Forest Products Inc., which is based in Acheson, Alta., located 20 kilometres west of Edmonton.
Compared with American SYP lumber, Canadian SPF is lighter in weight. It’s easy to work with, nails and screws go through it easier than SYP, and it is the preferred material for framing in home building.
“The durability of our product for construction is superior,” said Mr. Sawatzky, whose company remanufactures lumber into specialty products.
SYP meets building standards and remains a popular choice because of its versatility. Eastern SYP is cheaper for wood framing in markets in the U.S. South and is also suitable for uses such as fencing and decking. It is currently selling at lower prices when compared with SPF.
Trump has maintained that the U.S. doesn’t need Canadian timber, claiming in January: “We don’t need their lumber. We have massive fields of lumber.”
Softwood production from U.S. sawmills accounts for about 70 per cent of American domestic consumption, but Canadian softwood accounts for about 24 per cent, a contribution crucial to the Canadian industry. Taylor notes that more than 58 per cent of Canadian lumber output is sold every year in the U.S.
By contrast, just 0.7 per cent of American softwood production ends up north of the border.
Trump’s trade war threatens to cripple Canada’s softwood industry: The president has indicated the U.S. will impose 25-per-cent tariffs on softwood, an amount that could be tacked on top of existing softwood duties of 14.4 per cent imposed on most Canadian lumber shipments south of the border. The U.S. duties are expected to double by late 2025.
In a column this week about her favourite Canadian things, Vancouver-based columnist Marsha Lederman lists Canada’s great art museums, and notes her fury at the U.S. tariff attacks is “being soothed by CanCon: Canadian authors (Joy Kogawa currently), music (Oscar Peterson as I write this), a rewatch of Schitt’s Creek.”
“We all have our favourite Canadian things. I invite you to consider yours,” she writes.
She might want to add Canadian softwood lumber.
This is the weekly British Columbia newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.