The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that forestry company executives are eager for a new softwood lumber agreement but say they are not interested in a rumoured U.S. proposal to reinstate across-the-board quotas. A Canadian Press dispatch to The Globe quotes Resolute Forest Products chief executive officer Richard Garneau as saying word surfaced last week that the U.S. is seeking quotas that would put a hard cap on how much lumber could be exported to that country. It is a position that has long been advocated by the influential U.S. Lumber Coalition, but a non-starter for Canadian producers which do not want to be constrained as demand grows amid a recovery in U.S. housing construction. Mr. Garneau said producers in Central Canada should be able to trade freely into the U.S. because wood costs are now at market levels following recent changes to Quebec's forestry regime. "We have now the highest wood costs, so there's no reason why we should have a quota," he told CP. Western lumber producers have also opposed a quota-based structure. Interfor CEO Duncan Davies said quota systems do not work well when markets and currencies are weak. In 2006, Canada and the U.S. signed a nine-year agreement.