Wednesday expected ruling Drywall tax may climb cost of Canadian homebuilding.

A choice expected later today could drive up the cost of reconstructing Fort McMurray after a rapidly spreading fire cleared through the northern Alberta city the previous spring.

Costs for drywall, a building material considered essential to replace 1,800 houses and many different structures wrecked by the fire, have risen drastically since Canada slapped anti-dumping duties in September on U.S.- made items imported to Western Canada.

Claude Bureau, proprietor of Genroc Drywall in Fort McMurray, says he is paying wholesale providers about $4.60 more per four-by-12-foot sheet of drywall now contrasted with the cost before obligations were forced.

He said he has needed to raise his cost including installation by $1.25 per square foot, adding about $1,750 to the cost of building typical 1,400-square-foot house.

Fort McMurray Mayor Melissa Blake is requesting that the national government finance a concede program to help property proprietors recoup expanded costs identified with the drywall obligations.

Today, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal is booked to rule on whether to make permanent its introductory obligations of up to 276% on U.S. drywall imports into Canada for use in the four western areas and the Yukon and Northwest Territories.