CHBA national action leads to immediate relief from drywall duties for members

CHBA National and Association members across the country have engaged in significant advocacy efforts related to the import price of drywall for several years, with many advocacy wins. As members can work on fixed-price contracts, large price changes can negatively impact small and medium-sized home building businesses that have contracts to fulfill. Drywall is also an essential component of home building, thus price changes have a direct impact on housing affordability.

2016-18

In September 2016, the federal government (through the Canadian Border Services Agency) imposed interim duties on drywall coming into Western Canada from the United States. CHBA and members immediately responded to this claim, with significant concerns that the duties as high as 276% would have an immediate impact on the industry, and the broader economy.

Normally, investigations can take months and years and the duty stands during that time. However, on October 16, 2016, the Minister of Finance, in an unprecedented action, directed the Canadian International Trade Tribunal to expedite the investigation of the duty. This had never been done before and showed the efforts of the Association and members were attaining serious positive impact.

Over 500 members responded to a CHBA survey to get detailed data on the impacts of the duty, providing excellent support for CHBA’s testimony and action with legal counsel at the two weeks of Tribunal hearings in Edmonton in late November and early December in 2016.

On January 4, 2017, the tariff was lowered to one rate of 43% – a significant difference from the initial estimates and was ordered to be suspended for six months. This allowed builders with contracts to fulfill to meet their obligations at current prices – a key CHBA ask. The federal government also committed to using $12 million dollars in federal funds from the duties already collected to provide relief to those with existing contracts before the imposition of duties, and where they could not pass on those costs.

CHBA estimates that industry/association intervention on this issue resulted in $330 million savings for Western Canada businesses in new construction alone, and over $172 million in just British Columbia.

2018

In 2018, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal tossed-out a second complaint alleging that 54-inch drywall (a size not captured in the previous ruling) was impacted by dumping. CHBA had engaged its legal counsel and applied to participate in the tribunal process had the complaint proceeded. However, the case was thrown out and did not proceed based on evidence from the 2016 and 2017 rulings – and advocacy work from CHBA.