“B.C.’s forest sector is at its breaking point. Immediate action is required.”
—Forestry coalition letter to BC Premier David Eby
B.C.’s forest minister is pitching a new system of provincial forest zones as a way to address rising concerns from the sector that the industry is at the breaking point.
Ravi Parmar said his plan for a three-zone model of forest management could dramatically speed up permitting times and lower costs for companies to access fibre — key concerns raised by the sector in a letter to Premier David Eby on Wednesday.
“We can move towards a three-zone management system for forestry that allows us to be able to have a working forest,” Parmar told reporters on Wednesday.
“That working forest will eliminate the need for cut-block by cut-block permitting, which is going to reduce costs and allow fiber to be accessed more economically.
“And I think really what’s important for me is for industry to be able to have the certainty of knowing for the next 20 to 30 years exactly where they can go build their roads and exactly where they can go and harvest.”
Uneconomical fibre was a major part of the letter to Eby, co-signed Wednesday by 13 forest companies, unions and associations. It’s the first time the groups have come together, including representatives from trucking, cutting, hauling, woodlots, value-added manufacturing and workers.
‘Desperate times call for desperate measures’
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” said Jeff Bromley, wood council chair of the United Steelworkers, which represents the bulk of provincial forest workers.
“From a unionized standpoint, where a lot of the times it’s an adversarial relationship with the employer, this time we’ve got to impress upon government how much of a crisis this is, and that if these employers aren’t able to be successful to continue their business, that means thousands of jobs will be impacted again, as it has been over the last 10 years in British Columbia’s forest industry.”
The Steelworkers support Parmar’s idea to divide the province into working forest zones for logging, multiple-use zones for restoration and conservation zones for protection. The idea of working forests has been touted by unions and industry before, and a similar three-zone concept was recommended in the Old Growth Forest review back in 2020, but never gained any traction with government. The first test areas will be announced in the fall.
“It’s a step in the right direction but it needs to be defined and it needs to not take forever to be developed,” said Bromley.
Urgency was at the core of the letter to the premier from the sector. It called for a crisis working group with the premier on forestry, as well as a 30-day action plan.
Parmar committed to neither on Wednesday but did say he’ll organize a meeting to listen to concerns.
Provincial policies behind mill closures, job losses, says industry CEO
The sector said 45 per cent softwood lumber tariffs, combined with new 50 per cent U.S. tariffs on manufactured wood products have brought the industry to the brink.
But the underlying cause of many of the mill closures and job losses has been provincial policies that add costs, red tape and delays to cutting down trees to the point it’s no longer economical, read the letter. That shortage then spreads through the system, from sawmills to pulp mills to value-added manufacturing.
“It’s taking two to three years to get a cut permit when we’ve seen a mine permitted in 10 months,” said Kim Haakstad, president of the Council of Forest Industries.
“So we want the same kind of whole-of-government focus on getting forestry permits processed as we’ve seen from other sectors. That helps reduce cost, which means that we can actually get products to market at a more competitive price.
“Right now with the challenges with the U.S., we are also having challenges with other global markets because they’re saying Canadian products are too expensive.”
‘Unprecedented SOS’
Opposition BC Conservative finance critic Gavin Dew said the letter marks an “unprecedented SOS coming from the sector” and the premier should listen rather than blame the U.S.
“I think everybody in the forestry sector and everyone in B.C. is tired of hearing this government talk about Donald Trump,” he said.
“What we need is action to address the things that are within our control here in B.C.”
The harvest numbers also tell the story. The current annual allowable harvest is close to 61 million cubic metres per year, but the sector hasn’t got close to that in years. The premier set a high-profile goal to develop a path to get to at least 45 million cubic metres annually. But the most recent provincial budget forecast only 29 million cubic metres this year.
Parmar said he’s still trying to plot a course to the goal of 45 million cubic metres, but it’s not looking good.
“It is important to acknowledge that it is next to impossible to do that when you’re dealing with 45 per cent duties and tariffs on dimensional lumber, in addition to also facing the impacts of 50 per cent tariffs on veneer and plywood,” he said.
Premier Eby said earlier in the week he’ll be working with the federal government to ensure more federal aid flows to the forestry sector, in the wake of the additional American tariffs and Canadian countertariffs.
But that may not be enough. As the sector’s letter said, the goal is to “retain workers — do not wait to retrain them.” Though increasingly, there’s fewer and fewer forestry workers left to retain.