VANCOUVER, PENTICTON - NDP Leader Jack Layton was roundly criticized Friday for proposing to tear up the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber agreement, with both B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and former international trade minister David Emerson saying the idea is preposterous.

The B.C. Premier waded into the federal election campaign for the first time Friday, denouncing Mr. Layton's stance on softwood. The deal, Mr. Campbell said, has been a lifeline for the hard-hit B.C. forest sector.

"You want to rip up the softwood lumber agreement? Give your head a shake," Mr. Campbell said in a speech to municipal leaders in Penticton.

Mr. Campbell later acknowledged to reporters that Mr. Layton was the target of his comments. "I think Mr. Layton has shown a profound ignorance, both of the agreement and the impact his statements will have on British Columbia," Mr. Campbell told reporters. "It would be significantly damaging to British Columbians ... that's going to cause huge job losses at a time when forestry can't afford any more challenges."

Mr. Layton this week promised he would scrap the “sellout” deal, negotiate new lumber deals with the U.S., and restrict raw log exports to encourage local development. He says the deal needs to be reassessed because of mill closures and job losses in the industry despite the deal.

In an interview Friday, Mr. Emerson forecast permanent mill closures and job cuts if Mr. Layton was ever able to act on that idea, adding Canada would “get creamed in a negotiation today on softwood lumber.”

“What is [Mr. Layton] going to put on the table that is going to force the Americans, incent the Americans to come up with a better deal than we have today?” asked Mr. Emerson.

“What is it he's going to give them? He may have some brilliant idea that has passed me by.”

Mr. Emerson said he expected Canada would end up with an inferior agreement if it took another shot at negotiating one.

“All of the cards are in the American industry's hands,” he said, predicting severe anti-dumping and countervailing duties from the U.S. if the deal was suspended, pending talks.

“Maybe Mr. Layton wants to give them a long-term commitment to water or something. If you have a negotiation in the lumber sector, you have nothing substantial to put on the table. They have got all the cards, all the bargaining leverage.”

Mr. Emerson bowed out of elected politics just before the start of the election campaign, ending a career that saw him serve as a Liberal cabinet minister then a Tory minister after he crossed the floor soon after the 2006 election that saw Stephen Harper become prime minister. Most recently, Mr. Emerson served as foreign-affairs minister.

The former CEO of Canfor Corp, a lumber corporation, was international trade minister when he ended a five-year trade dispute with the U.S. by signing the softwood deal in 2006.

Mr. Emerson has since become national campaign co-chair for the Conservatives.

The federal Tories have been targeting the NDP, especially in B.C., as they see the electoral race narrowing to a fight between them and the New Democrats, and Mr. Emerson's comments appeared aimed at helping with that effort.

“I couldn't believe [Mr. Layton] would raise it again because everything I have been hearing from the people in the industry is `Thank God, we have got the softwood lumber agreement or we would be toast,'” said Mr. Emerson.

The agreement provides Canadian producers unrestricted access to U.S. markets though export restrictions are to be enacted if prices drop. The U.S. will also return about $4-billion of $5-billion in tariffs it imposed on Canadian lumber since 2002.