It's telling that U.S. readers would have to go to Canada to get serious coverage of a major issue in U.S. forest policy. In response to charges that Canada was subsidizing its logging industry and dumping softwood on U.S. markets, the U.S. last year slapped countervailing duties of about 25 percent on Canadian softwood, which until then had supplied about a third of the U.S. market.

Gordon Hamilton's substantial piece details a major proposal offered to Canada by Commerce Undersecretary Grant Aldonas to resolve the trade dispute. Canadians reacted unfavorably to the proposal "calling on Canada's provinces to undertake sweeping forest policy changes under the watchful eye of U.S. officials in return for duty-free access to American markets." The lost irony is that the U.S. should try so hard to impose "free market" principals on a foreign timber industry, when its own is so protected and subsidized. It's a subject largely overlooked by U.S. national and mainstream media, and covered only fitfully by regional press. (See: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/story.asp?id=48100652-F14F-490D-9468-D0FD9556AA1D)