NDP government gives brush off to forestry industry's pragmatic, made-in-B.C. solutions
'B.C.'s forest industry is in crisis,' wrote COFI President Kim Haakstad in the July 14 letter to Forests Minister Ravi Parmar.
'Fibre availability is at historic lows, permitting systems are gridlocked, and investment is retreating in the face of prolonged uncertainty. The risk is not gradual decline — but accelerated facility closures, job losses, and the permanent erosion of forest industry capacity.'
Haakstad was responding to Premier David Eby's announcement of a 'major project' to restore the industry in a speech to this year's COFI's convention.
Plus, the premier has mandated Parmar to boost the annual timber harvest to 45 million cubic metres, up 50 per cent over last year's 30 million.
To that end the COFI president offered 'pragmatic actions' to address problems of regulatory overload, paralysis in issuing cutting permits, bottlenecks in consultations with First Nations, inefficiencies in timber sales, and friction among too many ministries and agencies with oversight of forestry.
She called for a pause on issuing new regulations, policies, reviews, or other changes 'that don't directly contribute to the path to 45 million cubic metres.'
Instead, New Democrats should concentrate on 'implementing already announced actions effectively and simply.'
Second, the government should expedite the promised makeover of the troubled B.C. Timber Sales agency.
Third, the ministry should recruit a team of retired managers and officials to clear up the backlog in permitting and accelerate approval of new ones.
Another proposal on the list called for stepping up funding for the Forest Enhancement Society, allowing it to do more thinning, fire protection and salvage in the forests. At the same time the government should fast track harvesting of insect-damaged and fire ravaged stands.
'These steps are not flashy,' wrote Haakstad. 'But they would send a serious signal to industry that government understands the urgency and core challenges faced today.'
They would also protect jobs, restore the flow of fibre to industry, send encouraging signals to investors and create time and space for longer-term reforms.
'The forest sector fully supports the shift toward a more efficient, inclusive, and sustainable system,' she wrote in conclusion. 'But that future cannot be built on a collapsing foundation.'
'These interim actions are not about preserving the status quo. They are about keeping the doors open long enough to build what comes next together.'
I asked the government last week for a response to the proposals set out in the COFI letter. I got back a general statement from Parmar, which pretty much brushed aside the notion of a crisis in the industry.
'B.C. is the second-largest exporter of softwood lumber in the world,' it read in part. 'That's a testament to the strength, resilience, and innovation of our forestry workers and communities.'
Not that there weren't 'real challenges,' said Parmar.
He cited 'unfair and rising softwood lumber duties, shifting market conditions, and the lasting impacts of wildfires, the end of the mountain pine beetle crisis and climate change.'
The industry letter had also acknowledged the challenge posed by softwood duties. B.C. got whacked with them again on Friday of last week, with the possibility of more to come.
But the focus of the COFI letter was that (as Haakstad put it) 'we really need to focus on what we can control (and) look at what we can do in British Columbia to make sure that we stop managing the decline in forestry and get back to thinking about our competitiveness.'
B.C. is rated as the highest-cost jurisdiction for forestry in North America, along with one of the slowest to issue permits and deliver fibre supply into the hands of producers.
Parmar, in his perfunctory response to the COFI letter last week, claimed to be 'focused on protecting jobs, supporting communities, and ensuring long-term sustainability.
'I'm working every day with First Nations, industry, and the entire sector to build a forestry future that delivers for people, protects our forests, and drives economic prosperity for generations to come.'
This week the minister was back at the blame game, pointing fingers at the U.S. for the latest softwood penalty and at Ottawa for not rescuing B.C. from the tariff squeeze.
'As well, one of the things that I can't control right now, and I don't know if I ever will, is market conditions,' Parmar told Simi Sara on CKNW.
'We can do as much as we can. We can even harvest or, rather, permit 45 million cubic metres over the next year. But if the market conditions don't allow for companies to go in and harvest that and make money, that's an issue.'
Those market conditions are shaped by B.C.'s uncompetitive nature, a function of high costs and over regulation. But when asked about permitting, timber sales and other obstacles identified in the COFI letter, the most Parmar would say is 'we need to speed things up.'
Otherwise, the minister and his government accept little responsibility for pushing the B.C. forest sector to the brink.
vpalmer@postmedia.com
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