Simple solution to softwood conflict - By MEL G. CLARK AND DAVID ORCHARD, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
There is a simple way out, without bluster or insults. Canada does not have to give up ownership of its forests, its industries and its institutions.
With a simple letter to the United States, under FTA Article 2106, NAFTA Article 2205, Canada can, with six months notice, withdraw from the agreements without penalty and without conditions. Our trading relations with the United States will then automatically revert back to the GATT/WTO framework of international law, which will enable us to both maintain our institutions and trade profitably with the United States.
All of the intolerable NAFTA rights U.S. companies now have over Canada -- to sue the Canadian government, to overturn Canadian laws, to control our exports and energy prices -- would disappear. Canada would regain its status as a sovereign nation.