Premier Clark calls on Ottawa to ban coal exports after softwood lumber duties
SURREY, B.C. — Premier Christy Clark wants the federal government to ban the shipment of thermal coal through ports in British Columbia after the United States announced new tariffs on softwood lumber.
Clark said she has written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and asked that Ottawa act by stopping the export of the coal, including from the United States.
The B.C. Liberal leader made the announcement Wednesday at a paper products company in Surrey while campaigning for the May 9 provincial election, saying the impasse over softwood lumber “gives us the freedom to do what I think is unquestionably the right thing.”
“That coal, most of it is American but not all of it that’s shipped through our ports, is dirty. It fouls the air. It fouls the oceans. It’s terrible for the environment.”