The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that B.C. Liberal leader Christy Clark, on the eve of a provincial election, is seizing on U.S. criticism of her retaliatory trade threats to pressure for a softwood deal as a validation of her tactics. The Globe's Ian Bailey and Justine Hunter quote Ms. Clark on the campaign trail Sunday as saying: "With our ban on moving thermal coal, we have got the Americans' attention. We aren't going to be weaklings." The Liberal leader, who is in a tight fight with the NDP to win Tuesday's election, was responding to a weekend statement from U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Mr. Ross said the Trump administration will not yield to pressure from the Canadian government, including British Columbia's proposal to ban thermal-coal shipments through the province. He called such tactics "inappropriate." Ms. Clark lobbed the term back, "Everything [the Americans] have done with regard to softwood has been utterly inappropriate," she said at a news conference in Surrey. Last Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a letter to Ms. Clark, saying he was seriously considering her request to ban thermal-coal exports through the province and that his trade experts were studying it.