From April 2002 to March this year, Ottawa spent at least C$40.8m in legal fees on the file, most of it for lawyers in the US. But that figure could be just the tip of the iceberg.
Once the expenses of the federal government, the provinces, individual forest companies and Canadian forestry lobby groups are all added up, the legal bill rises to more than C$300m.
Guy Chevrette, president of the Québec Foresty Industry Council, agreed with the estimate, saying his organisation alone spent C$5m a year on the issue. He said the three main Canadian softwood-producing provinces – British Columbia, Québec and Ontario – each spent between C$5-10m a year in legal fees.
On top of that, he said dozens of millions of dollars more were spent by forest companies on their own legal proceedings against the US forest industry and the US government.
