Premier Christy Clark has appointed former B-C deputy minister David Emerson as the province’s trade envoy to the United States, tasked with helping secure a new Softwood Lumber Agreement. Emerson is also a former Canfor C-E-O and was the federal minister of international trade when a Softwood Lumber Agreement was signed in 2006 — bringing the fourth Canada-U-S lumber dispute to an end. The government says Emerson has already begun the briefing process in order to start dialogues with legislators and the U-S administration as quickly as possible. His first visit to Washington, D-C is expected to take place in March.