Stakeholders hear familiar commitment to fix the same problems
Premier David Eby sought “blunt feedback” from the province’s forest sector in Vancouver this week, and boy did he get it.
Forest executives, analysts, workers and community leaders at the Council of Forest Industries annual convention painted a dire picture for the premier of an industry crumbling under policy uncertainty and fibre shortage, with a window to intervene shrinking dramatically.
“It’s 37 years for me, but probably the worst I’ve ever seen,” said John Mohammed, president of AAA Trading, one of the largest privately held forestry companies on the coast.
“If you want to have successful manufacturing, successful value added, you got to have a successful woodlands industry. And it’s not right now. It’s at the brink.”
“It’s 37 years for me, but probably the worst I’ve ever seen.”
John Mohammed
At the brink was a familiar narrative at the COFI event. But many also described a sector that could still be stabalized and return to its role as a major economic driver for the province, under the right conditions.
“There are different perspectives in this room, and that’s okay, and that’s important,” said Eby during his speech Friday.
“It is crucial that we challenge each other, and I welcome blunt feedback and assessments of where the government’s at and what we need to be doing.”
Eby said he’s increasingly willing to be flexible in fixing government policies that are hurting forestry, highlighting a recent cabinet order that reduced carbon pricing on lime kiln emissions for pulp mills. And he admitted years of his own government policies have played a role in the problems.
“I also want to recognize that the provincial government and our policies have had an impact on the industry, everything from restrictions around old growth, as well as other policies that you have pointed out to us that we need to do a better job of consolidating and then getting out of the way to ensure the fiber supply that you need is able to be delivered in this province,” he said.
Policy shifts, confusing Indigenous rights weaken forestry, says sector
The government, though, is still firmly in the way, according to those who spoke at the conference.
Uncertainty caused by policy shifts and confusion over Indigenous rights legislation have weakened B.C. forestry to the point it is now the first one down instead of the last one standing during sectoral downturns, said Susan Yurkovich, CEO of Canfor.
“It’s about fiber,” she said. “If you fly over this province, in every direction, everywhere there are trees as far as the eye can see. Yes, we’ve had areas that are impacted by beetles. We’ve had fires. But there are trees everywhere, and what we just can’t do is access them.”
“There are trees everywhere, and what we just can’t do is access them.”
Susan Yurkovich
Government policy rules had made it uneconomical to harvest what’s currently available, and there’s a lack of new capital investment, said Steven Hofer, CEO of Western Forest Products. The industry doesn’t need a band-aid solution, it needs “major surgery,” he said.
“Today’s environment is probably the most challenging business environment for a forest products company to make $1 in British Columbia that I’ve encountered in my 33 years,” said Hofer.
“That’s the reality of the day, incredibly challenging. And there are a number of both provincial issues relating to hosting conditions and cost structures and permitting.”
Eby promises ‘post-permitting regime’ if First Nations consent
Eby professed to be working on it. He cited a 30 per cent increase in harvest volume to mills this year, some changes to BC Timber Sales, and additional reforms to come. He also painted a future vision of a government out of the way of the sector, a “post-permitting regime,” though getting there would require First Nations consent on local planning.
“We are long past the days when there is social license for clear cutting of old growth, and nobody is advocating for that,” said the premier.
“We are no longer in a position to rely on that approach to forestry. What the industry has been asking for, and what we are ready and preparing to deliver, is the certainty and predictability of a working forest model where there are designated areas where the forest is developed for economic purposes, as well as designated areas that are protected, watershed and other sensitive areas.”
“What we are ready and preparing to deliver, is the certainty and predictability of a working forest model.”
David Eby
“This model, with clear zones and clear expectations, creates the possibility of moving past permits and into a regime where you know with certainty the amount of wood available to you as you need it, and it also ensures we’re protecting British Columbia’s interest in protecting key areas of the province.”
Eby reiterates past promises to forestry stakeholders
Eby’s forest landscape planning tables were launched three years ago, with a goal to get 15 different regions of the province on board with First Nations to stabilize where logs can be cut and what forests should be protected. Only one table has reached completion.
COFI president Kim Haakstad quizzed Eby on stage, asking for clarity on how the province intends to meet a 45 million cubic metres of annual harvest when the budget only forests 29 million cubic metres.
Eby said the budget “takes the most pessimistic perspectives around projecting revenues from forestry” and he has designated the larger target as a “major project” for his government, unlocking priority access to resources and legislation.
“I think if there’s one consistent piece of feedback I hear from the industry is that we do have the land base to support the forest industry, that the challenge is around permitting and the challenges around access and the challenges around BC timber sales and other pieces, and that is exactly what we’re working on addressing,” he said.
The problem, though, is the premier has been saying that to the sector now for years.