Opportunities for Change

The Forestry Crisis, and Opportunities for Change

The Forest Industry is in crisis and the BC government says there is nothing they can do about it. But with over 46 mill closures between January and June 2008 and over 12,000 forestry related jobs lost in the province since January 2007 it is time to find some solutions to the forestry crisis.

The Blame Game

The Minister of Forests blames forestry’s decline on external factors and washes his hands of the whole thing. The truth is that bad forestry management has left British Columbia vulnerable to fluctuations in the US market and the value of our dollar. Cyclical downturns will always be difficult, they need not be devastating.

The government insists that crisis is based on US protectionism schemes, the strong Canadian dollar and related housing downturn. But the BC government was happy to sign on to a Softwood Lumber deal which favored American protectionists and left us even more vulnerable to market fluctuations. Logging companies and elected officials laid the groundwork for this crisis by embracing ideas which liberalize log trade to the US, even if it means cutting jobs in Canada.

Corporations and the government brought in changes that allow unrestricted log exports, market related stumpage, and dissociation of logging from milling. There are plenty of skilled woodworkers in BC, but forest policies and outdated tenure systems have made it nearly impossible for these workers to get there hands on domestic fiber. Government policies have closed the doors on domestic log markets, and value-added products.

So with this history how can the Minister of Forests and Liberal government continue to insist that there is nothing that could have prevented this mess, and furthermore nothing that can be done to fix it?