Canada’s new government will double the pace of homebuilding to almost 500,000 new homes a year over the next decade. That alone will double the use of Canadian softwood lumber in residential construction – an increase of almost 2 billion board feet – and it will double demand for structural panels – an increase of almost 1 billion square feet.

The Prime Minister’s visit to the province comes amid renewed tensions in the softwood lumber dispute with the U.S., which has placed anti-dumping duties on softwood lumber products that the B.C. Council of Forest Industries has condemned as “unjustified and punitive trade actions.”