This page contains annotated news stories and press releases with commentary about land reform and the democratic process in British Columbia. Our comments are shown in red.
If the BC liberal government and Forest Minister, have learned anything over the last year and a half regarding Tree Farm Licence deletions, it is that the deletions are handouts to corporation and communities affected by the deletions are against them.
If Rich Coleman has heard anything at all from concerned citizens he would not grant another TFL deletion, and especially not without meaningful consultation and compensation to the public and First Nations. He cannot simply ask people how they feel about the decision, and then go ahead and make the deletion. This cannot be another Jordan River!
Crowd pans plan to sell TFL 23
Jun 04, 2008
By By Francisco Canjura
More than 100 Castlegar residents attended the public meeting concerning the private land sales of 4,341 hectares of private lands within Tree Farming License (TFL) 23.
Answering questions at the meetings were Janice Plumstead, director in performance and risk of advisory at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PricewaterhouseCoopers is the receiver in Pope and Talbot’s bankruptcy battle); David Morel, executive director of tenure and revenue for the Ministry of Forests and Range; Larry Price, regional client director with the spacial analysis branch with geo B.C.; and former Pope and Talbot employee Ken Taylor.
Within TFL 23, there are schedule A lands and schedule B lands. The schedule A lands are private lands that belong to the now-defunct Pope and Talbot company. Pope and Talbot is attempting to sell those lands which according to the TFL are legally the property of P&T. In order to sell these private lands, Minister of Forests and Range Rich Coleman must approve the sale.
Morel, in his opening speech, said he was sent by Coleman to listen to the community’s concerns and will later give those concerns in written form to the minister.
Morel told the crowd some of the lands have offers on them and some have been sold, but the deal cannot be finalized until Coleman agrees to the sale of those lands.
Next, Ken Taylor explained why P&T had decided to sell the private lands. He said the sale of private lands is expected to bring in about $40 million and that money would be used to pay off some of P&T’s creditors.
Taylor said the process of selling these lands began in early 2007. P&T started to market the lands in the summer of 2007.
Sandy Korman, representing Nelson-Creston MLA Corky Evans, asked the first question of the night.
“If the people don’t agree, will the minister say no? And where will the money from the sale of these lands go?”
“The minister is the decision maker and we’re here to gather information to present to him,” answered Morel.
Plumstead answered the second question. “The money will go to financing companies in New York.”
“After so much time having gone by, are these public meetings just for show to make it seem like the minister is doing something?” asked Stan McMaster, Steel Workers Local 1-405 president.
The panel of representatives did not have an answer for McMaster.
The panel could not produce answers to questions such as how do the sales of these lands benefit the province or the people in the region? Where is Coleman? Who are the companies that have bids on these lands?
Near the end of the two-hour meeting Castlegar resident Mel McMullen asked, “Why hasn’t there been a proper public meeting, where experts attend and it is properly run with a stand-up mic for people to ask questions and with the minister present so our questions can be answered?”
The panel could not answer that question and told McMullen, as they told others whose questions could not be answered, to write down the question and those would be submitted to the minister along with the information they had gathered.
“What is the mutual benefit for the province and the people, other than Pope and Talbot, if these land parcels are sold?” asked Korman.
There was no answer.
McMaster thought there was a great turnout, despite lack of notice.
“I received an e-mail this morning and that was the first I heard of this,” McMaster said.
“The information (given by the presenters) was limited and it was mainly provided by Mr. Taylor who was a previous employee of Pope and Talbot. The Ministry of Forests people did their best to answer the questions, but they are not in a position to answer the questions.”
“My opinion is that he (Coleman) has already made up his mind just like he did in Vancouver Island [and will sell the lands],” he added.
McMaster thinks the meeting showed the people of the region don’t want this land sale to go through.
Frank Bloom, acting on behalf of the regional executive director for Southern Interior Forest Region of Ministry of Forests and Range, explained the general consensus from the three meetings was that people don’t want the sale to go through.
He said if the sale did not go through, the lands become an asset of the receiver — PricewaterhouseCoopers — and could be sold to a different owner, but the lands will be subject to TFL rules.
“I think Coleman is spending taxpayer money for no reason by sending these guys out here, but maybe he will change his mind after this,” said steel workers union member, Bill Dinner.
Coleman is expected to receive all the information gathered at these public meetings by the end of June.
Answering questions at the meetings were Janice Plumstead, director in performance and risk of advisory at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PricewaterhouseCoopers is the receiver in Pope and Talbot’s bankruptcy battle); David Morel, executive director of tenure and revenue for the Ministry of Forests and Range; Larry Price, regional client director with the spacial analysis branch with geo B.C.; and former Pope and Talbot employee Ken Taylor.
Within TFL 23, there are schedule A lands and schedule B lands. The schedule A lands are private lands that belong to the now-defunct Pope and Talbot company. Pope and Talbot is attempting to sell those lands which according to the TFL are legally the property of P&T. In order to sell these private lands, Minister of Forests and Range Rich Coleman must approve the sale.
Morel, in his opening speech, said he was sent by Coleman to listen to the community’s concerns and will later give those concerns in written form to the minister.
Morel told the crowd some of the lands have offers on them and some have been sold, but the deal cannot be finalized until Coleman agrees to the sale of those lands.
Next, Ken Taylor explained why P&T had decided to sell the private lands. He said the sale of private lands is expected to bring in about $40 million and that money would be used to pay off some of P&T’s creditors.
Taylor said the process of selling these lands began in early 2007. P&T started to market the lands in the summer of 2007.
Sandy Korman, representing Nelson-Creston MLA Corky Evans, asked the first question of the night.
“If the people don’t agree, will the minister say no? And where will the money from the sale of these lands go?”
“The minister is the decision maker and we’re here to gather information to present to him,” answered Morel.
Plumstead answered the second question. “The money will go to financing companies in New York.”
“After so much time having gone by, are these public meetings just for show to make it seem like the minister is doing something?” asked Stan McMaster, Steel Workers Local 1-405 president.
The panel of representatives did not have an answer for McMaster.
The panel could not produce answers to questions such as how do the sales of these lands benefit the province or the people in the region? Where is Coleman? Who are the companies that have bids on these lands?
Near the end of the two-hour meeting Castlegar resident Mel McMullen asked, “Why hasn’t there been a proper public meeting, where experts attend and it is properly run with a stand-up mic for people to ask questions and with the minister present so our questions can be answered?”
The panel could not answer that question and told McMullen, as they told others whose questions could not be answered, to write down the question and those would be submitted to the minister along with the information they had gathered.
“What is the mutual benefit for the province and the people, other than Pope and Talbot, if these land parcels are sold?” asked Korman.
There was no answer.
McMaster thought there was a great turnout, despite lack of notice.
“I received an e-mail this morning and that was the first I heard of this,” McMaster said.
“The information (given by the presenters) was limited and it was mainly provided by Mr. Taylor who was a previous employee of Pope and Talbot. The Ministry of Forests people did their best to answer the questions, but they are not in a position to answer the questions.”
“My opinion is that he (Coleman) has already made up his mind just like he did in Vancouver Island [and will sell the lands],” he added.
McMaster thinks the meeting showed the people of the region don’t want this land sale to go through.
Frank Bloom, acting on behalf of the regional executive director for Southern Interior Forest Region of Ministry of Forests and Range, explained the general consensus from the three meetings was that people don’t want the sale to go through.
He said if the sale did not go through, the lands become an asset of the receiver — PricewaterhouseCoopers — and could be sold to a different owner, but the lands will be subject to TFL rules.
“I think Coleman is spending taxpayer money for no reason by sending these guys out here, but maybe he will change his mind after this,” said steel workers union member, Bill Dinner.
Coleman is expected to receive all the information gathered at these public meetings by the end of June.
