BRITISH COLUMBIA – For 82 years, the TLA’s long history of supporting the forward movement of BC’s forest sector with the core objective of ensuring the ongoing prosperity of the contracting community and the people working in it, has been to the overall benefit of our forests.
BC’s forest sector is wrestling with difficult and challenging conditions caused by many factors including changes in government policies, increasing complexity, conflicting mandates, and ever-increasing cost structures. We are overdue for a comprehensive overhaul of the current environment we deal with and the need to return to a dedicated vision towards renewed prosperity.
However, today’s announcement of the new Provincial Forest Advisory Council (PFAC), yet another committee to review BC’s forest sector and provide recommendations to the Minister of Forests, is of concern. Notably, the advisory council does not include representation from boots-on-the-ground, independent contractors who can provide a valuable perspective on the impacts of potential changes.
From the TLA’s perspective, the priority should be dedication to improving the current state of affairs and finding solutions within the already taxing regulatory environment. We hope PFAC will work towards a few key objectives including:
- A collective vision for BC’s forest sector
- Finding pathways forward to ensure the harvest level reaches a minimum of 45 million cubic metres and concrete actions towards increasing harvest levels to the approved allowable annual cuts
- Providing certainty to the forest industry and stable jobs
- Providing the framework for improving the investment climate so all concerned can have the confidence to ensure BC remains the global leader in forest management and manufacturing
- Reducing our non-competitive cost structures
A key mandate of the PFAC includes a healthy forest sector. The TLA trusts this is a core component of any recommendations the advisory council provides to the minister. However, at this time, the sector does not need the introduction of another level of complexity, conflicting mandates, and further reduced competitiveness.
We look forward to working with the council to achieve mutually beneficial objectives for all concerned and welcome the opportunity to provide our valuable input.
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