The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday, May 8, edition that the U.S. hit Canada with duties of up to 24 per cent because the provinces are selling their timber too cheaply to lumber companies. The Globe's Barrie McKenna writes that is only part of the story. A significant chunk of the penalty is due to log export restrictions that exist only in British Columbia. The bizarre, and arguably unfair, result is that lumber producers across Canada are being punished for the forest policies of one province. Absent of B.C.'s export controls, Canada's lumber industry would be facing something closer to a nuisance tax today, rather than a punishing throttle on its exports. It could wind up costing lumber companies hundreds of millions of dollars per year, and valuable market share in the United States. Outside of B.C., the duties are relatively low -- about 3 per cent for St. John-based J.D. Irving and 13 per cent for Montreal-based Resolute Forest Products. Inside B.C., the rates are much higher -- 24 per cent for West Fraser Timber and 20 per cent for Canfor. Every other lumber exporter in Canada is now paying a weighted average of those five rates, or 20 per cent.