‘Northern Ontario\u2019s forestry workers and communities will be hit hard, while American families will pay even more to build or renovate their homes. No one wins in this trade war’<\/p>\n
The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) is voicing strong opposition to the United States Department of Commerce\u2019s decision to raise countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber to 35.19 per cent. This sharp increase will deal a serious blow to northeastern Ontario\u2019s forestry sector, jeopardizing jobs, local businesses and the economic stability of communities across the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis latest tariff hike is both unfair and economically destructive,\u201d said FONOM president Danny Whalen in a release.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorthern Ontario\u2019s forestry workers and communities will be hit hard, while American families will pay even more to build or renovate their homes. No one wins in this trade war.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, existing U.S. tariffs on construction materials have already added US$6,000 to the cost of building a single-family home. If the current tariff structure remains in place, that figure could climb by US$14,000 by 2027 \u2014 further worsening North America\u2019s housing affordability crisis.<\/p>\n
FONOM welcomes recent federal and provincial support for the forestry sector \u2014 including Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s announced aid package and Premier Doug Ford\u2019s ongoing advocacy \u2014 but warns that short-term relief is not enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stand shoulder to shoulder with partners like the Ontario Forest Industries Association, NOMA, and forestry leaders across Canada,\u201d Whalen added. \u201cIt\u2019s time for the Canadian and U.S. governments to stop playing politics and negotiate a fair, long-term, rules-based agreement that safeguards rural and Indigenous economies and keeps lumber affordable for all.\u201d<\/p>\n
FONOM calls on all levels of government to prioritize a permanent resolution to the softwood lumber dispute, ensuring the long-term stability of Ontario\u2019s vital forest industry and the communities that depend on it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘Northern Ontario\u2019s forestry workers and communities will be hit hard, while American families will pay even more to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46,39297],"class_list":{"0":"post-72190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-fonom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}