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The days of chopping down a tree and paying stumpage fees are on the way out for the timber industry, Canada’s forest ministers have heard, with the hope of a revival pinned on a new task force report.
Corey Hogan, the parliamentary secretary for the minister of natural resources, told a news conference at the end of a Canadian Council of Forest Ministers meeting that he feels a sense of optimism for the industry.
Hogan said Thursday that “unjust” tariffs from the United States and global changes with less demand for products like newsprint, caused a “perfect storm of challenges.”
A final report released this week said the most significant barriers to reviving the industry are homegrown, including excessive regulations, underinvestment in manufacturing, low innovation and poor domestic demand for wood.
Hogan said the federal government will respond “within a matter of days” with an action plan that will lead to a national strategy to “make the forest sector vibrant.”
B.C. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar says the country’s forest ministers agree that the old ways of selling commodity lumber to the Americans won’t work anymore.
“We can no longer be a jurisdiction that competes with Indonesia and Brazil in providing pulp products, because we are losing that battle,” he said.
After U.S. President Donald Trump imposed punishing tariffs on imported lumber, B.C. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar says the country can no longer be the principal export destination for the province’s lumber sector. He says the province is setting up a forest trade office in the U.K. to diversify its exports in the region.
Parmar said the task force report signals a willingness from the federal government to sit down to work with provinces and territories.
“And in the case of British Columbia, we are going to be eager to get to a table to be able to access those dollars and ensure that we can defend the interests of forestry workers, and we can also ensure that we move this sector here in B.C.,” said Parmar.
