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Resolute Forest Products donating Canadian lumber to Houston

Spokesperson says it's time to put politics aside
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Resolute Forest Products has announced it will donate lumber to help rebuild homes following devastating flooding in Houston, Texas. (File)

Canada and the United States are currently at loggerheads over softwood lumber duties, but Resolute Forest Products plans to donate a rail car full of Canadian lumber to hurricane-ravaged Houston, Texas.

Resolute is also challenging other Canadian lumber manufacturers to follow suit.

Company vice-president Seth Kursman said this is the time "to put politics aside and help our neighbours at a time of need."

Kursman, who moved to Canada from Houston 15 years ago, said he raised the idea of sending a "truckful" of lumber and supplies to help rebuild the Texas city, but company CEO Richard Garneau suggested sending a rail car and encouraging other companies to send a donation as well.

"There's a gesture of goodwill that I know is very much appreciated, having been in contact with local, state and federal officials in the U.S.," Kursman said in an interview on Monday.

He noted that a rail car can carry 100,000 board feet of lumber, and "that's a lot of lumber."

The Resolute contribution will come from a mill in Quebec.