Two lawmakers from northwest Ohio want federal officials to keep a close watch on government-subsidized cement production in Quebec, reported The Crescent-News.
Rep. Tony Burkley, R-Payne, and Sen. Cliff Hite, R-Findlay, are offering companion resolutions to draw attention to the potential negative impact the increased cement production could have on the state.
House Concurrent Resolution 10 (HCR 10) is a symbolic measure, which would urge the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to ensure World Trade Organization rules weren’t violated in the Quebec government’s funding of McInnis Cement and its Port-Daniel-Gascons cement plant in Quebec.
“The cement market in Quebec is already oversaturated, and the stated purpose of the Port-Daniel-Gascons cement plant is not to supply Canadian projects but to ship the vast majority of production into the United States,” Burkley said in testimony to the House’s Commerce and Labor Committee, where HCR 10 had its initial hearing. “Ohio’s private cement industry should not have to compete with a taxpayer-funded operations based on foreign soil.”
Burkley also outlined the importance of the cement industry in Ohio’s Paulding County in particular, where a branch of Lafarge North America is the area’s largest employer.
