OTTAWA — The Liberal party will vote against the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber deal as expected.

But some individual Liberal MPs will support the deal.

Liberal international trade critic Dominic LeBlanc and Liberal House leader Ralph Goodale confirmed the party's position Friday.

But even with NDP support, the Liberals would not be able to defeat a Conservative and Bloc Quebecois alliance when the government brings in softwood legislation as expected later this month.

LeBlanc said the Liberals will seek help for workers in the industry. He said the government should craft an aid package for industry to help it cope with the tariffs they will not get back as part of the Conservative deal.

"We believe the government should implement (a package) immediately to assist the Canadian lumber industry adjust to the fallout from this bad deal.''

The Conservative plan would see the lumber industry receive 80 per cent of the tariffs it paid to the United States, but LeBlanc and Goodale both said Canada should have waited for the outcome of all outstanding litigation and legal challenges.

Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, scoffed at the Liberal decision to oppose the softwood deal.

"I guess if Liberals win the next election they're going to rip up the treaty, cut a $5-billion cheque back to the Americans and shut down the Canadian softwood lumber industry,'' Soudas said.

Not all Liberals intend to vote against the deal, however.

Leadership hopeful Joe Volpe said he will support the agreement, as will one of his supporters, Thunder Bay MP Joe Comuzzi.

Volpe said there is little point in nixing the deal if the government is not prepared to continue funding legal challenges to American duties on softwood and if the industry itself is prepared to accept that getting "80 per cent of something'' is better than "100 per cent of nothing.''

"The industry is on the ropes and needs cash flow,'' Volpe said in an interview.

Moreover, Volpe suggested that opposing the deal risks costing the Liberals what little support they have left in rural Canada. He noted that the party's one remaining rural pocket of support is in northern Ontario, which is reliant on the forestry industry.

LeBlanc said it would be a failure if the lumber industry gets anything less than all of the tariffs it paid to the United States. Goodale said it is obvious the Harper government has played hardball with Canadian softwood producers to get their support for the deal.

"I just wish they'd been as tough and played as much hardball with George Bush,'' he said.

LeBlanc said the softwood deal sets a dangerous precedent for Canadian industry.

"If you give in to a bully on softwood lumber, which Canadian industry will be next?''

The Conservatives have been critical of the previous Liberal government for failing to get a deal done with American industry to resolve the lumber dispute.

LeBlanc said the deal effectively guts the North American Free Trade Agreement.