Free trade is good for all, as long as there is a need on both sides, and that need is relatively equal.

We have had free trade with the US for decades, but the US economy is so much larger, that there has never been any fairness to it.

Both the softwood lumber trade and Alberta beef industry has been totally dominated by private interest groups in the US.

Only after the BC lumber industry put a huge effort into marketing their products to Asia to the point where a large percentage of their product goes there, could they break the hold the US had on them. Now the US market is picking up again, and they are forced to come hat in hand, and pay market price for our lumber. That is justice.

Same with the beef industry. It is dominated by the US market. If, as it seems, we create an alternative market with the EU, it changes the goalposts considerably.

Quebec may lose some dairy business, But they are already lauding the other benefits of this deal, such as aluminum manufacturing.

It is great news for industry in general in Canada. The ones losing are you and I, as individuals. In my area, the price of lumber has almost doubled in the last two years, and I expect we will see the same thing from the meat industry. A larger market overseas, will mean less available at home, resulting in higher costs.

What this has to do with the ROF or Noront, I have no idea, but it is Saturday.