LINDA COADY
BRITISH COLUMBIA – Linda Coady, President & Chief Executive Officer of the BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI), issued the following statement today in response to a commitment to undertake a “review of BC forests” that is part of the cooperation agreement announced last week by the BC NDP and the BC Green Party.
“Another review of forest policy in BC should not be a priority right now,” said Coady.
“Premier Eby has already publicly acknowledged that rising US duties and tariffs on forest products would have a ‘devastating’ impact on thousands of jobs in resource communities across the province. In light of this very real threat, now is the time for urgent action on the commitments the government has already made to maintaining a competitive and sustainable forest products manufacturing sector in BC.
In recent years, several major reviews, reports, and new initiatives have already focused on forestry in BC. These include the Intentions Paper on Modernizing Forest Policy, the Old Growth Strategic Review and Action Plan, and many other new processes and mechanisms for land use planning, forest conservation, and biodiversity protection. Each of these initiatives has involved extensive consultation and engagement with First Nations, labour, communities, companies, researchers, and environmental organizations.
In addition, in January 2024, Premier Eby appointed Andrew Mercier as Minister of State for Sustainable Forestry Innovation. Minister Mercier spent much of the past year meeting with First Nations, communities, and forestry stakeholders to address fibre supply shortages behind mill closures and curtailments, and what needs to be done to promote value-added wood products and protect forestry jobs.
Last week, the new BC Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said in an interview that ‘now is the time to be bold…you are not going to see a bunch of frameworks and vision statements and grandiose plans. I think we’ve done all of that work and am very thankful to my colleagues for getting us to this place. For me, it’s now (about) focusing on those clear objectives on what we need to accomplish to have a robust, sustainable industry for the next decades.’
Before yet another review is launched, Minister Parmar should be given time to put forward his plan for the completion and implementation of existing initiatives before any more new ones are introduced. The Minister will have a major platform to do that next month when he speaks at the Natural Resources Forum (NRF) in Prince George in January.
There is a lot to do and much at stake. Along with other resource industries in BC, forestry is at the forefront of advancing Indigenous reconciliation through real, on-the-ground practices and partnerships. Implementation of new land use planning processes and initiatives on conservation financing have been at least two years in the making, and are still not happening at scale. BC is badly in need of a strategy for attracting investment in new goals for forest management and manufacturing.
A collaborative, bipartisan effort among MLAs in the BC Legislature to meeting the crisis now confronting the province’s forest sector is a good idea. To ensure practical solutions that work for the regions most affected, it must also include meaningful input from MLAs representing forest and resource communities.”
About the BC Council of Forest Industries
The BC Council of Forest Industries (COFI) represents the interests of British Columbia’s forest industry, advocating for policies that support sustainable forest management, economic prosperity, and the well-being of forest-dependent communities.
