Premier To Meet With Trudeau Monday

New Brunswick’s premier will meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss several topics.

Premier Blaine Higgs said softwood lumber will be front and centre during the meeting Monday in Ottawa.

Higgs said softwood lumber was not a factor in the new free trade agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico.

“While we support the free trade deal with the three countries, that’s fine, softwood lumber has not been a factor,” Higgs told reporters Friday.

The premier said he has met with companies who have told him the market is down.

“Now we see the companies on the bubble,” said Higgs. “We knew this was coming.”

For more than two years, softwood lumber entering the U.S. from Canada have been subject to tariffs.

But Higgs said imports from Europe, which are not subject to tariffs, are “pouring in” to the eastern U.S.

“When you think of that, how is that fair? Here we are the closest suppliers and we’re subject to a 20 per cent tariff and they’re not subject to this tariff,” he said.

Higgs said he also plans to discuss Clinic 554, the province’s only private abortion clinic, which is facing closure.

Staff at the Fredericton clinic have said they can no longer afford to keep operating since the province will not fund abortions performed outside of hospitals.